MflftUHJBi 


AMERICAN  INSTITUTIONS. 


f. 


J 


AMERICAN  INSTITUTIONS 


AND  THEIK 


INFLUENCE. 


!<• 


BY 

ALEXIS   DE   TOOQUEVILLE, 


WITH    NOTES, 

BY  HON.  JOHN  C.  SPENCER. 


NEW    YORK: 
PUBLISHED    BY    A.  S.  BARNES    &    CO., 

NO.   51   JOHN-STREET. 
CINCINNATI:— H.  W.  DERBY  &  COMPA.VY. 

1851. 


Enters  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851, 
BY  A.  S.  BAKNES  &  CO., 

the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


THE  American  publishers  of  M.  De  Tocqueville's  "  Demo- 
cracy  in  America,"  have  been  frequently  solicited  to  furnish 
the  work  in  a  form  adapted  to  seminaries  of  learning,  and  at 
a  price  which  would  secure  its  more  general  circulation, 
and  enable  trustees  of  School  District  Libraries,  and  other 
libraries,  to  place  it  among  their  collections.  Desirous  to 
attain  these  objects,  they  have  consulted  several  gentlemen,  in 
whose  judgment  they  confided,  and  particularly  the  editor  of 
the  American  editions,  to  ascertain  whether  the  work  was 
capable  of  abridgment  or  condensation,  so  as  to  bring  the  ex 
pense  of  its  publication  within  the  necessary  limits.  They 
are  advised  that  the  nature  of  the  work  renders  it  impossible 
to  condense  it  by  omitting  any  remarks  or  illustrations  of  the 
author  upon  any  subject  discussed  by  him,  even  if  common 
justice  to  him  did  not  forbid  any  such  attempt ;  and  that  the 
only  mode  of  reducing  its  bulk,  is  to  exclude  wholly  such 
subjects  as  are  deemed  not  to  be  essential. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  first  volume  was  originally 
published  separately,  and  was  complete  in  itself.  It  treated 
of  the  influence  of  democracy  upon  the  political  institutions 
of  the  United  States,  and  exhibited  views  of  the  nature  of  our 
government,  and  of  their  complicated  machinery,  so  new, 
so  striking,  and  so  just,  as  to  excite  the  admiration  and  even 
the  wonder  of  our  countrymen.  It  was  universally  admitted 
to  be  the  best,  if  not  the  first  systematic  and  philosophic  view  of 
the  great  principles  of  our  constitutions  which  has  been  pre 
sented  to  the  world.  As  a  treatise  upon  the  spirit  of  our  gov 
ernments,  it  was  full  and  finished,  and  was  deemed  worthy  of 
being  introduced  as  a  text-book  in  some  of  our  Seminaries  of 
Learning.  The  publication  of  the  first  volume  alone  would 
therefore  seem  to  be  sufficient  to  accomplish  in  the  main  the 
objects  of  the  publishers  above  stated. 

And  upon  a  careful  re-examination  of  the  second  volume, 
this  impression  is  confirmed.  It  is  entirely  independent  of  the 
first  volume,  and  is  in  no  way  essential  to  a  full  understand 
ing  of  the  principles  and  views  contained  in  that  volume.  It 
discusses  the  effects  of  the  democratic  principle  upon  the 


VI  ADVERTISEMENT. 

.A.* 

tastes,  feelings,  habits,  and  manners  of  the  Americans ;  and 
although  deeply  interesting  and  valuable,  yet  the  observations 
of  the  author  on  these  subjects  are  better  calculated  for  for 
eign  countries  than  for  our  own  citizens.  As  he  wrote  for 
Europe  they  were  necessary  to  his  plan.  They  follow  natu 
rally  and  properly  the  profound  views  which  had  already 
been  presented,  and  which  they  carry  out  and  illustrate. 
But  they  furnish  no  new  developments  of  those  views,  nor 
any  facts  that  would  be  new  to  us. 

The  publishers  were  therefore  advised  that  the  printing  of  the 
first  volume  complete  and  entire,  was  the  only  mode  of  attain 
ing  the  object  they  had  in  view.  They  have  accordingly  deter 
mined  to  adopt  that  course,  intending,  if  the  public  sentiment 
should  require  it,  hereafter  to  print  the  second  volume  in  the 
same  style,  so  that  both  may  be  had  at  the  same  moderate 
price. 

A  few  notes,  in  addition  to  those  contained  in  the  former 
editions,  have  been  made  by  the  American  editor,  which  upon 
a  reperusal  of  the  volume  seemed  useful  if  not  necessary : 
and  some  statistical  results  of  the  census  of  1840  have  been 
added,  in  connection  with  similar  results  given  by  the  author 
from  returns  previous  to  that  year. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


THE  following  work  of  M.  DE  TOCQTTEVILLE  has  attracted  great 
attention  throughout  Europe,  where  it  is  universally  regarded  as  a  sound, 
philosophical,  impartial,  and  remarkably  clear  and  distinct  view  of  our 
political  institutions,  and  of  our  manners,  opinions,  and  habits,  as  influ 
encing  or  influenced  by  those  institutions.  Writers,  reviewers,  and 
statesmen  of  all  parties,  have  united  in  the  highest  commendations  of 
its  ability  and  integrity.  The  people,  described  by  a  work  of  such  a 
character,  should  not  be  the  only  one  in  Christendom  unacquainted 
with  its  contents.  At  least,  so  thought  many  of  our  most  distinguished 
men,  who  have  urged  the  publishers  of  this  edition  to  reprint  the  work, 
and  present  it  to  the  American  public.  They  have  done  so  in  the 
hope  of  promoting  among  their  countrymen  a  more  thorough  know 
ledge  of  their  frames  of  government,  and  a  more  just  appreciation  of 
the  great  principles  on  which  they  are  founded. 

But  it  seemed  to  them  that  a  reprint  in  America  of  the  views  of  an 
author  so  well  entitled  to  regard  and  confidence,  without  any  correc 
tion  of  the  few  errors  or  mistakes  that  might  be  found,  would  be  in 
effect  to  give  authenticity  to  the  whole  work,  and  that  foreign  readers, 
especially,  would  consider  silence,  under  such  circumstances,  as  strong 
evidence  of  the  accuracy  of  its  statements.  The  preface  to  the  Eng 
lish  edition,  too,  was  not  adapted  to  this  country,  having  been  written, 
as  it  would  seem,  in  reference  to  the  political  questions  which  agitate 
Great  Britain.  The  publishers,  therefore,  applied  to  the  writer  of 
this,  to  furnish  them  with  a  short  preface,  and  such  notes  upon  the 
text  as  might  appear  necessary  to  correct  any  erroneous  impressions. 
Having  had  the  honor  of  a  personal  acquaintance  with  M.  DE  TOCQUE- 
VILLE  while  he  was  in  this  country ;  having  discussed  with  him  many 
of  the  topics  treated  of  in  this  book ;  having  entered  deeply  into  the 
feelings  and  sentiments  which  guided  and  impelled  him  in  his  task, 
and  having  formed  a  high  admiration  of  his  character  and  of  this  pro 
duction,  the  writer  felt  under  some  obligation  to  aid  in  procuring  for 
one  whom  he  ventures  to  call  his  friend,  a  hearing  from  those  who 
were  the  subjects  of  his  observations.  These  circumstances  furnish 
to  his  own  mind  an  apology  for  undertaking  what  no  one  seemed  will 
ing  to  attempt,  notwithstanding  his  want  of  practice  in  literary  com 
position,  and  notwithstanding  the  impediments  of  professional  avoca 
tions,  constantly  recurring,  and  interrupting  that  strict  and  continued 
examination  of  the  work,  which  became  necessary,  as  well  to  detect 
any  errors  of  the  author,  as  any  misunderstanding  or  misrepresentation 
of  his  meaning  by  his  translator.  If  the  same  circumstances  will  atone 
in  the  least  for  the  imperfections  of  what  the  editor  has  contributed 
to  this  edition,  and  will  serve  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  jud.ment 
upon  those  contributions,  it  is  all  he  can  hope  or  ask. 

The  NOTES  are  confined,  with  very  few  exceptions,  to  the  correc 
tion  of  what  appeared  to  be  misapprehensions  of  the  author  in  regard 


Vlll  PREFACE   TO    THE    AMERICAN    EDITION. 


tters  o 


to  some  mattefi  of  fact,  or  some  principles  of  law,  and  to  explaining 
his  meaning  where  the  translator  had  misconceived  it.  For  the  latter 
purpose  the  original  was  consulted ;  and  it  affords  great  pleasure  to 
bear  witness  to  the  general  fidelity  with  which  Mr.  REEVE  has  trans 
ferred  the  author's  ideas  from  French  into  English.  He  has  not  been 
a  literal  translator,  and  this  has  been  the  cause  of  the  very  few  errors 
which  have  been  discovered  :  but  he  has  been  more  and  better  :  he  has 
caught  the  spirit  of  M.  DE  TOCQUEVILLE,  has  understood  the  senti 
ment  he  meant  to  express,  and  has  clothed  it  in  the  language  which 
M.  DE  TOCQUEVILLE  would  have  himself  used,  had  he  possessed  equal 
facility  in  writing  the  English  language. 

Being  confined  to  the  objects  before  mentioned,  the  reader  will  not 
find  any  comments  on  the  theoretical  views  of  our  author.  He  has 
discussed  many  subjects  on  which  very  different  opinions  are  entertained 
in  the  United  States ;  but  with  an  ability,  a  candor,  and  an  evident 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  truth,  which  will  commend  his  views  to  those 
who  most  radically  dissent  from  them.  Indeed,  readers  of  the  most 
discordant  opinions  will  find  that  he  frequently  agrees  with  both  sides, 
and  as  frequently  differs  from  them.  As  an  instance,  his  remarks  on 
slavery  will  not  be  found  to  coincide  throughout  with  the  opinions 
either  of  abolitionists  or  of  slaveholders :  but  they  will  be  found  to 
present  a  masterly  view  of  a  most  perplexing  and  interesting  subject, 
which  seems  to  cover  the  whole  ground,  and  to  lead  to  the  melancholy 
conclusion  of  the  utter  impotency  of  human  effort  to  eradicate  this  ac 
knowledged  evil.  But  on  this,  and  on  the  various  topics  of  the  deepest 
interest  which  are  discussed  in  this  work,  it  was  thought  that  the 
American  readers  would  be  fully  competent  to  form  their  own  opinions, 
and  to  detect  any  errors  of  the  author,  if  such  there  are,  without  any 
attempt  of  the  present  editor  to  enlighten  them.  At  all  events,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  will  patiently  read,  and 
candidly  consider,  the  views  of  this  accomplished  foreigner,  however 
hostile  they  may  be  to  their  own  preconceived  opinions  or  prejudices. 
He  says :  "  There  are  certain  truths  which  Americans  can  only  learn 
from  strangers,  or  from  experience."  Let  us,  then,  at  least  listen  to 
one  who  admires  us  and  our  institutions,  and  whose  complaints,  when 
he  makes  any,  are,  that  we  have  not  perfected  our  own  glorious  plans, 
and  that  there  are  some  things  yet  to  be  amended.  We  shall  thus 
furnish  a  practical  proof,  that  public  opinion  in  this  country  is  not  so 
intolerant  as  the  author  may  be  understood  to  represent  it.  However 
mistaken  he  may  be,  his  manly  appeal  to  our  understandings  and  to  our 
consciences,  should  at  least  be  heard.  "  If  ever,"  he  says,  "  these 
lines  are  read  in  America,  I  am  well  assured  of  two  things  :  in  the  first 
place,  that  all  who  peruse  them  will  raise  their  voice  to  condemn  me ; 
and,  in  the  second  place,  that  very  many  of  them  will  acquit  me  at  the 
bottom  of  their  consciences."  He  is  writing  on  that  very  sore  subject, 
the  tyranny  of  public  opinion  in  the  United  States. 

Fully  to  comprehend  the  scope  of  the  present  work,  the  author's 
motive  and  object  in  preparing  it  should  be  distinctly  kept  in  view. 
He  has  written,  not  for  America,  but  for  France.  "  It  was  not,  then, 
merely  to  satisfy  a  legitimate  curiosity,"  he  says,  "  that  I  have  examined 
America :  my  wish  has  been  to  find  instruction,  by  which  we  might 
ourseVes  profit." — "  I  sought  the  image  of  democracy  itself,  with  its 
incl  .ations,  its  character,  its  prejudices,  and  its  passions,  in  order  to 
learn  what  we  have  to  hope  or  fear  from  its  progress."  He  thinks  that 
the  principle  of  democracy  has  sprung  into  new  life  throughout  Europe, 
and  particularly  in  France,  and  that  it  is  advancma:  wit^  a  firm  and 


PREFACE    TO    THE    AMERICAN    EDITION.  IX 

steady  march  to  the  control  of  all  civilized  governments.  In  his  owiv 
country,  he  had  seen  a  recent  attempt  to  repress  its  energies  within  due 
bound-!,  and  to  prevent  the  consequences  of  its  excesses.  And  it  seems 
to  be  a  main  object  with  him,  to  ascertain  whether  these  bounds  can  be 
relied  upon ;  whether  the  dikes  and  embankments  of  human  contrivance 
can  keep  within  any  appointed  channel  this  mighty  and  majestic 
stream.  Giving  the  fullest  confidence  to  his  declaration,  that  his  book 
"  is  written  to  favor  no  particular  views  and  with  no  design  of  serving 
or  attacking  any  party,"  it  is  yet  evident  that  his  mind  has  been  very 
open  to  receive  impressions  unfavorable  to  the  admission  into  France 
of  the  unbounded  and  unlimited  democracy  which  reigns  in  these 
United  States.  A  knowledge  of  this  inclination  of  his  mind  will 
necessarily  induce  some  caution  in  his  readers,  while  perusing  those 
parts  of  the  work  which  treat  of  the  effects  of  our  democracy  upon  the 
stability  of  our  government  and  its  administration.  While  the  views 
of  the  author,  respecting  the  application  of  the  democratic  principle,  in 
the  extent  that  it  exists  with  us,  to  the  institutions  of  France,  or  to 
any  of  the  European  nations,  are  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  peo 
ple  and  statesmen  of  those  countries,  they  are  scarcely  less  entitled  to 
the  attention  of  Americans.  He  has  exhibited,  with  admirable  skill, 
the  causes  and  circumstances  which  prepared  our  forefathers,  gradually, 
for  the  enjoyment  of  free  institutions,  and  which  enable  them  to 
sustain,  without  abusing,  the  utmost  liberty  that  was  ever  enjoyed  by 
any  people.  In  tracing  these  causes,  in  examining  how  far  they 
continue  to  influence  our  conduct,  manners,  and  opinions,  and  in  search 
ing  for  the  means  of  preventing  their  decay  or  destruction,  the  intelli 
gent  American  reader  will  find  no  better  guide  than  M.  DE  TOCQUE- 
VILLE. 

Fresh  from  the  scenes  of  the  "  three  days"  revolution  in  France,  the 
author  came  among  us  to  observe,  carefully  and  critically,  the  operation 
of  the  new  principle  on  which  the  happiness  of  his  country,  and,  as  he 
seems  to  believe,  the  destinies  of  the  civilized  world,  depend.  Filled 
with  the  love  of  liberty,  but  remembering  the  atrocities  which,  in  its 
name,  had  been  committed  under  former  dynasties  at  home,  he  sought 
to  discover  the  means  by  which  it  was  regulated  in  America,  and 
reconciled  with  social  order.  By  his  laborious  investigations,  and 
minute  observations  of  the  history  of  the  settlement  of  the  country,  and 
of  its  progress  through  the  colonial  state  to  independence,  he  found  the 
object  of  his  inquiry  in  the  manners,  habits,  and  opinions,  of  a  people 
who  had  been  gradually  prepared,  by  a  long  course  of  peculiar  circum 
stances,  and  by  their  local  position,  for  self-government ;  and  he  has 
explained,  with  a  pencil  of  light,  the  mystery  that  has  baffled  Europe 
ans  and  perplexed  Americans.  He  exhibits  us,  in  our  present  condi 
tion,  a  new,  and  to  Europeans,  a  strange  people.  His  views  of  our 
political  institutions  are  more  general,  comprehensive,  and  philosophic 
than  have  been  presented  by  any  writer,  domestic  or  foreign.  He  has 
traced  them  from  their  source,  democracy — the  power  of  the  people — 
and  has  steadily  pursued  this  foundation-principle  in  all  its  forms  and 
modifications  :  in  the  frame  of  our  governments,  in  their  administra 
tion  by  the  different  executives,  in  our  legislation,  in  the  arrangement 
of  our  judiciary,  in  our  manners,  in  religion,  in  the  freedom  and  licen 
tiousness  of  the  press,  in  the  influence  of  public  opinion,  and  in  various 
subtle  recesses,  where  its  existence  was  scarcely  suspected.  In  all 
these,  he  analyzes  and  dissects  the  tendencies  of  democracy ;  heartily 
applauds  where  he  can,  and  faithfully  and  independently  gives  warning 
of  dangers  that  he  foresees.  No  one  can  read  the  result  of  his  observa- 


X  PREFACE    TO    THE    AMERICAN   EDITION. 

tions  without  better  and  clearer  perceptions  of  the  structure  of  oui 
governments,  of  the  great  pillars  on  which  they  rest,  and  of  the  dan 
gers  to  which  they  are  exposed :  nor  without  a  more  profound  and 
more  intelligent  admiration  of  the  harmony  and  beauty  of  their  forma 
tion,  and  of  the  safeguards  provided  for  preserving  and  transmitting  them 
to  a  distant  posterity.  The  more  that  genera*  and  indefinite  notions  of 
our  own  liberty,  greatness,  happiness,  &c.,  are  made  to  give  place  to 
precise  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  true  merits  of  our  institutions, 
the  peculiar  objects  they  are  calculated  to  attain  or  promote,  and  tha 
means  provided  for  that  purpose,  the  better  will  every  citizen  be  ena 
bled  to  discharge  his  great  political  duty  of  guarding  those  means 
against  the  approach  of  corruption,  and  of  sustaining  them  against  the 
violence  of  party  commotions.  No  foreigner  has  ever  exhibited  such  a 
deep,  clear,  and  correct  insight  of  the  machinery  of  our  complicated 
systems  of  federal  and  state  governments.  The  most  intelligent  Euro 
peans  are  confounded  with  our  imperium  in  imperio  ;  and  their  con 
stant  wonder  is,  that  these  systems  are  not  continually  jostling  each 
other.  M.  DE  TOCQUEVII/LE  has  clearly  perceived,  and  traced  cor- 
rectly  and  distinctly,  the  orbits  in  which  they  move,  and  has  described, 
or  rather  defined,  our  federal  government,  with  an  accurate  precision, 
unsurpassed  even  by  an  American  pen.  There  is  no  citizen  of  this 
country  who  will  not  derive  instruction  from  our  author's  account  of 
our  national  government,  or,  at  least,  who  will  not  find  his  own  ideas 
systematised,  and  rendered  more  fixed  and  precise,  by  the  perusal  of 
that  account. 

Among  other  subjects  discussed  by  the*  author,  that  of  the  political 
influence  of  the  institution  of  trial  by  jury,  is  one  of  the  most  curious 
and  interesting.  He  has  certainly  presented  it  in  a  light  entirely  new, 
and  as  important  as  it  is  new.  It  may  be  that  he  has  exaggerated  its 
influence  as  "  a  gratuitous  public  school ;"  but  if  he  has,  the  error  will 
be  readily  forgiven. 

His  views  of  religion,  as  connected  with  patriotism,  in  other  words, 
with  the  democratic  principle,  which  he  steadily  keeps  in  view,  are 
conceived  in  the  noblest  spirit  of  philanthropy,  and  cannot  fail  to  con 
firm  the  principles  already  so  thoroughly  and  universally  entertained 
by  the  American  people.  And  no  one  can  read  his  observations  on  the 
union  of  "  church  and  state,"  without  a  feeling  of  deep  gratitude  to 
the  founders  of  our  government,  for  saving  us  from  such  a  prolific 
source  of  evil. 

These  allusions  to  topics  that  have  interested  the  writer,  are  not  in 
tended  as  an  enumeration  of  the  various  subjects  which  will  arrest  the 
attention  of  the  American  reader.  They  have  been  mentioned  rather 
with  a  view  of  exciting  an  appetite  for  the  whole  feast,  than  as  exhibit 
ing  the  choice  dainties  which  cover  the  board. 

It  remains  only  to  observe,  that  in  this  edition  the  constitutions  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  state  of  New  York,  which  had  been  pub 
lished  at  large  in  the  original  and  in  the  English  edition,  have  been 
omitted,  as  they  are  documents  to  which  every  American  reader  has 
access.  The  map  which  the  author  annexed  to  his  work,  and  which 
has  been  hitherto  omitted,  is  now  for  the  first  time  inserted  in  the 
American  edition,  to  which  has  been  added  the  census  of  1840. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


PAQB 

PREFACE  BY  THE  AMERICAN  EDITOR v 

Introduction 1 

CHAPTER  I. 
Exterior  form  of  North  America 15 

CHAPTER  II. 
Origin  of  the  Anglo-Americans,  and  its  Importance  in  Relation  to 

their  future  Condition 23 

Reasons  of  certain  Anomalies  which  the  Laws  and  Customs 
of  the  Anglo-Americans  present 41 

CHAPTER  III. 

Social  Condition  of  the  Anglo-Americans 43 

The  striking  Characteristic  of  the  social  Condition  of  the 

Anglo-Americans  is  its  essential  Democracy 44 

Political  Consequences  of  the  social  Condition  of  the  Anglo- 
Americans 51 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Principle  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  People  in  America  ....       52 

CHAPTER  V. 
Necessity  of  examining  the  Condition  of  the  States  before  that  of 

the  Union  at  large 55 

The  American  System  of  Townships  and  municipal  Bodies.  56 

Limits  of  the  Townships 56 

Authorities  of  the  Township  in  New  England 59 

Existence  of  the  Township 61 

Public  Spirit  of  the  Townships  of  New  England 63 

The  Counties  of  New  England 65 

I/ Administration  in  New  England 67 

General  Remarks  on  the  Administration  of  the  United  States  76 

Of  the  State <^8Q 

Legislative  Power  of  the  State 80 

The  executive  Power  of  the  State 82 

Political  Effects  of  the  System  of  local  Administration  in  the 

United  States « 83 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Judicial  Power  in  the  United  States,  and  its  Influence  on  Political 

Society 94 

Other  Powers  granted  to  the  American  Judges 100 


XU  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Political  Jurisdiction  in  the  United  States 102 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  federal  Constitution 107 

History  of  the  federal  Constitution 107 

Summary  of  the  federal  Constitution 109 

Prerogative  of  the  federal  Government Ill 

Federal  Powers 112 

Legislative  Powers 113 

A  farther  Difference  between  the  Senate  aud  the  House  of 

Representatives 115 

The  executive  Power .TTTTTv^-^  116 

Differences  between  the  Position  of  the  President  of  the 

United  States  and  that  of  a  constitutional  King  of  France.  IIS 
Accidental  Causes  which  may  increase  the  Influence  of  the 

•         executive  Government 121 

Why  the  President  of  the  United  States  does  not  require  the 
Majority  of  the  two  Houses  in  Order  to  carry  on  the 

Government 122 

Election  of  the  President 123 

Mode  of  Election 127 

Crisis  of  the  Election 130 

Re-Election  of  the  President 132 

Federal  Courts 135 

Means  of  determining  the  Jurisdiction  of  the  federal  Courts  138 

Different  Cases  of  Jurisdiction 140 

Procedure  of  the  federal  Courts 146 

High  Rank  of  the  supreme  Courts  among  the  great  Powers 

of  the  State 148 

In  what  Respects  the  federal  Constitution  is  superior  to  that 

of  the  States 151 

Characteristics  which  distinguish  the  federal  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  of  America  from  all  other  federal  Con 
stitutions 155 

Advantages  of  the  federal  System  in  General,  and  its  special 

Utility  in  America 158 

Why  the  federal  System  is  not  adapted  to  all  Peoples,  and 

how  the  Anglo-Americans  were  enabled  to  adopt  it 164 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Why  the  People  may  strictly  be  said  to  govern  in  the  United 
States 172 

CHAPTER  X. 

Parties  in  the  United  States 173 

Remains  of  the  aristocratic  Party  in  the  United  States 178 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Liberty  of  the  Press  in  the  United  States 180 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Political  Associations  in  the  United  States 189 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Government  of  the  Democracy  in  America 197 

Universal  Suffrage 197 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS.  Xlli 

PACK 

Choice*  of  the  People,  and  instinctive  Preferences  of  the 
American  Democracy 198 

Causes  which  may  partly  correct  the  Tendencies  of  the  De 
mocracy  201 

Influence  which  the  American  Democracy  has  exercised  on 
the  Laws  relating  to  Elections 204 

Public  Officers   under  the   control   of  the    Democracy    in 

j       America 205 

k  **' '  Arbitrary  Power  of  Magistrates  under  the  Rule  of  the  Ame 
rican  Democracy 208 

Instability  of  the  Administration  in  the  United  States 211 

Charges  levied  by  the  State  under  the  rule  of  the  American 
Democracy 213 

Tendencies  of  the  American  Democracy  as  regards  the  Sala 
ries  of  public  Officers 217 

Difficulties  of  distinguishing  the  Causes  which  contribute  to 
the  Economy  of  the  American  Government 1 219 

Whether  the  Expenditure  of  the  United  States  can  be  com 
pared  to  that  of  France 220 

Corruption  and  vices  of  the  Rulers  in  a  Democracy,  and  con 
sequent  Effects  upon  public  Morality 225 

Efforts  of  which  a  Democracy  is  capable 227 

Self-control  of  the  American  Democracy 231 

Conduct  of  foreign  Affairs,  by  the  American  Democracy. . .     233 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
What  the  real  Advantages  are  which  American  (Society  derives 

from  the  Government  of  the  Democracy 238 

General  Tendency  of  the  Laws  under  the  Rule  of  the>Ame- 
rican  Democracy,  and  Habits  of  those  who  apply  them. . .  233 

Public  Spirit  in  the  United  States 242 

Notion  of  Rights  in  the  United  States 245 

Respect  for  the  Law  in  the  United  States 248 

Activity  which  pervades  all  the  Branches  of  the  Body  politic 
in  the  United  States ;  Influence  which  it  exercises  upon 
Society 250 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Unlimited  Power  of  the  Majority  in  the  United  States,  and  its 

Consequences 255 

How  the  unlimited  Power  of  the  Majority  increases  in  Ame 
rica,  the  Instability  of  Legislation  inherent  in  Democracy  257 

Tyranny  of  the  Majority 259 

\      Effects  of  the  unlimited  Power  of  the  Majority  upon  the  ar 
bitrary  Authority  of  the  American  pubb'c  Officers 263 

Power  exercised  by  the  Majority  in  America  upon  public 

Opinion 264 

Effects  of  the  Tyranny  of  the  Majority  upon  the  national 

Character  of  the  Americans 267 

The  greatest  Dangers  of  the  American  Republics  proceed 
from  the  unlimited  Power  of  the  Majority 271 

CHAPTER  XVI.  , 

Causes  which  Mitigate  the  Tyranny  of  the  Majority  in  the  United 

States 273 

Absence  of  central  Administration 273 


XIV  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

PAOI 
The  Profession  of  the  Law  in  the  United  States  serves  to 

Counterpoise  the  Democracy 275 

Trial  by  Jury  in  the  United  States  considered  as  a  political 
f  Institution 284 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Principal  Causes  which  tend  to  maintain  the  democratic  Repub 
lic  in  the  United  States 292 

Accidental  or  providential  Causes  which  contribute  to  the 
Maintenance  of  the  democratic  Republic  in  the  United 
States 292 

Influence  of  the  Laws  upon  the  Maintenance  of  the  demo 
cratic  Republic  in  the  United  States 303 

Influence  of  Manners  upon  the  Maintenance  of  the  democra 
tic  Republic  in  the  United  States 303 

Religion  considered  as  a  political  Institution,  which  power- 
*          fully  Contributes  to  the  Maintenance  of  the  democratic 

Republic  among  the  Americans 304 

Indirect  Influence  of  religious  Opinions  upon  political  So 
ciety  in  the  United  States 307 

Principal  Causes  which  render  Religion  powerful  in  America     312 

How  the  Instruction,  the  Habits,  and  the  practical  Experi 
ence  of  the  Americans,  promote  the  Success  of  their  demo 
cratic  Institutions 319 

The  Laws  contribute  more  to  the  Maintenance  of  the  demo 
cratic  Republic  in  the  United  States  than  the  physical  Cir 
cumstances  of  the  Country,  and  the  Manners  more  than 
the  Laws 324 

Whether  Laws  and  Manners  are  sufficient  to  maintain  demo 
cratic  Institutions  in  other  Countries  beside  America. . . .  328 

Importance  of  what  precedes  with  respect  to  the  State  of 
Europe 331 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
--  The  present  and  probable  future  Condition  of  the  three  Races 

which  Inhabit  the  Territory  of  the  United  States 33i> 

The  present  and  probable  future   Condition  of  the  Indian 

Tribes  which  Inhabit  the  Territory  possessed  by  the  Union     340 
Situation  of  the  black  Population  in  the  United  States,  and 

Dangers  with  which  its  Presence  threatens  the  Whites. . .     360 
What  are  the  Chances  in  favor  of  the  Duration  of  the  Ame 
rican  Union,  and  what  Dangers  threaten  it 386 

..      Of  the  republican  Institutions  of  the  United  States,  and  what 

their  Chances  of  Duration  are 422 

Reflections  on  the  Causes  of  the  commercial  Prosperity  of 

the  United  States 428 

Conclusion 436 

Appendix 443 


INTRODUCTION. 


AMONG  the  novel  objects  that  attracted  my  attention  during 
my  stay  in  the  United  States,  nothing  struck  me  more  forcibly 
tlian  the  general  equality  of  conditions.  I  readily  discovered 
the  prodigious  influence  which  this  primary  fact  exercises  on 
the  whole  course  of  society,  by  giving  a  certain  direction  to 
public  opinion,  and  a  certain  tenor  to  the  laws  ;  by  imparting 
new  maxims  to  the  governing  powers,  and  peculiar  habits  to 
the  governed. 

I  speedily  perceived  that  the  influence  of  this  fact  extends 
far  beyond  the  political  character  and  the  laws  of  the  country, 
and  that  it  has  no  less  empire  over  civil  society  than  over  the 
government ;  it  creates  opinions,  engenders  sentiments,  sug 
gests  the  ordinary  practices  of  life,  and  modifies  whatever  it 
does  not  produce. 

The  more  I  advanced  in  the  study  of  American  society, 
the  more  I  perceived  that  the  equality  of  conditions  is  the  fun 
damental  fact  from  which  all  others  seem  to  be  derived,  and 
i,he  central  point  at  which  all  my  observations  constantly 
terminated. 

I  then  turned  my  thoughts  to  our  own  hemisphere,  where  I 
imagined  that  I  discerned  something  analogous  to  the  specta 
cle  which  the  New  World  presented  to  me.  I  observed  that 
the  equality  of  conditions  is  daily  advancing  towards  those 
extreme  limits  which  it  seems  to  have  reached  in  the  United- 
States  ;  and  that  the  democracy  which  governs  the  American 
communities^,  appeaFs~to  tie  rapidly  rising  into  power  in 
Europe.  — 

I  hence  conceived  the  idea  of  the  book  which  is  now  before 
•.he  reader. 

It  is  evident  to  all  alike  that  a  great  democratic  revolution 
is  going  on  among  us  ;  but  there  are  two  opinions  as  to  its 
nature  and  consequences.  To  some  it  appears  to  be_a_npvel 
accident,  which  as  such  may  still  be  checked  ;  to  others  it 
seems  irresistible,  because  it  is  the  most  uniform,  the  most 
1 


=n 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

ancient,  and  the  most  permanent  tendency  which  is  to  be 
found  in  history. 

Let  us  recollect  the  situation  of  France  seven  hundred 
years  ago,  when  the  territory  was  divided  among  a  small 
number  of  families,  who  were  the  owners  of  the  soil  and  the 
rulers  of  the  inhabitants  ;  the  right  of  governing  descended 
with  the  family  inheritance  from  generation  to  generation ; 
force  was  the  only  means  by  which  man  could  act  on  man  ; 
and  landed  property  was  the  sole  source  of  power. 

Soon,  however,  the  political  power  of  the  clergy,  was  found 
ed,  and  began  to  exert  itself ;  the  clergy  opened  its  ranks  to 
all  classes,  to  the  poor  and  the  rich,  the  villain  and  the  lord  ; 
equality  penetrated  into  the  government  through  the  church, 
and  the  being  who,  as  a  serf,  must  have  vegetated  in  perpe 
tual  bondage,  took  his  place  as  a  priest  in  the  midst  of  nobles, 
and  not  unfrequently  above  the  heads  of  kings. 

The  different  relations  of  men  became  more  complicated 
and  more  numerous,  as  society  gradually  became  more  sta 
ble  and  more  civilized.  Thence  the  want  of  civil  laws  was 
felt ;  and  the  order  of  legal  functionaries  soon  rose  from  the 
obscurity  of  the  tribunals  and  their  dusty  chambers,  to  ap 
pear  at  the  court  of  the  monarch,  by  the  side  of  the  feudal 
barons  in  their  ermine  and  their  mail. 

While  the  kings  were  ruining  themselves  by  their  great 
enterprises,  and  the  nobles  exhausting  their  resources  by 
private  wars,  the  lower  orders  were  enriching  themselves  by 
commerce.  Thejnfluence  of  money  began  to  be  perceptible 
in  state  affairs.  The  transactions  of  business  opened  a  new 
road  to  power,  and  the, financier  rose  to  a  station  of  political 
influence  in  which  he  was  at  once  flattered  and  despised. 

Gradually  the  spread  of  mental  acquirements,  and  the  in 
creasing  taste  for  literature  and  art,  opened  chances  of  suc 
cess  to  talent ;  science  became  the  means  of  government, 
intelligence  led  to  social  power,  and  the  man  of  letters  took 
a  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  state. 

The  value  attached  to  the  privileges  of  birth,  decreased  in 
the  exact  proportion  in  which  new  paths  were  struck  out  to 
advancement.  In  the  eleventh  century  nobility  was  beyond 
all  price ;  in  the  thirteenth  it  might  be  purchased ;  it  was 
conferred  for  the  first  time  in  1270  ;  and  equality  was  thus 
introduced  into  the  government  by  the  aristocracy  itself. 

In  the  course  of  these  seven  hundred  years,  it  sometimes 
happened  that,  in  order  to  resist  the  authority  of  the  crown, 
or  to  diminish  the  power  of  their  rivals,  the  nobles  granted  a 
certain  share  of  political  rights  to  the  people.  Or,  more  fre- 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

tjtiontly,  tNfi  Mng  permitted  the  lower  orders  to  enjoy  a  degree 
of  power,  With  the  intention  of  repressing  the  aristocracy. 

In  France  the  kings  have  always  been  the  most  active  and 
the  most  constant  of  levellers.  When  they  were  strong  and 
ambitious,  they  spared  no  pains  to  raise  the  people  to  the  level 
of  the  nobles ;  when  they  were  temperate  or  weak,  they 
allowed  the  people  to  rise  above  themselves.  Some  assisted 
the  democracy  by  their  talents,  others  by  their  vices.  Louis 
XI.  and  Louis  XIV.  reduced  every  rank  beneath  the  throne 
to  the  same  subjection  ;  Louis  XV.  descended,  himself  and 
all  his  court,  into  the  dust. 

As  soon  as  land  was  held  on  any  other  than  a  feudal  tenure, 
and  personal  property  began  in  its  turn  to  confer  influence, 
and  power,  every  improvement  which  was  introduced  in  com 
merce  or  manufacture,  was  a  fresh  element  of  the  equality 
of  conditions.  Henceforward  every  new  discovery,  every 
new  want  which  it  engendered,  and  every  new  desire  which 
craved  satisfaction,  was  a  step  toward  the  universal  level. 
The  taste  for  luxury,  the  love  of  war,  the  sway  of  fashion, 
the  most  superficial,  as  well  as  the  deepest  passions  of  the 
human  heart,  co-operated  to  enrich  the  poor  and  to  empover- 
ish  the  rich. 

From  the  time  when  the  exercise  of  the  intellect  became 
the  source  of  strength  and  of  wealth,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
consider  every  addition  to  science,  every  fresh  truth,  and 
every  new  idea,  as  a  germe  of  power  placed  within  the  reach 
of  the  people.  Poetry,  elqquence,  and  memory,  the  grace  of 
wit,  the  glow  of  imagination,  the  depth  of  thought,  and  all 
the  gifts  which  are  bestowed  by  Providence  with  an  equal 
hand,  turned  to  the  advantage  of  the  democracy  ;  and  even 
when  they  were  in  the  possession  of  its  adversaries,  they  still 
served  its  cause  by  throwing  into  relief  the  natural  greatness 
of  man  ;  its  conquests  spread,  therefore,  with  those  of  civili 
sation  and  knowledge  ;  and  literature  became  an  arsenal, 
where  the  poorest  and  weakest  could  always  find  weapons  to 
their  hand. 

In  perusing  the  pages  of  our  history,  we  shall  scarcely  meet 
with  a  single  great  event,  in  the  lapse  of  seven  hundred 
years,  which  has  not  turned  to  the  advantage  of  equality. 

The  crusades  and  the  wars  of  the  English  decimated  the 
nobles,  and  divided  their  possessions  ;  the  erection  of  com 
munes  introduced  an  element  of  democratic  liberty  into  the 
bosom  of  feudal  monarchy  ;  the  invention  of  firearms  equal 
ized  the  villain  and  the  noble  on  the  field  of  battle  ;  printing 
opened  the  same  resources  to  the  minds  of  all  classes  ;  the 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

post  was  organized  so  as  to  bring  the  same  information  to  the 
door  of  the  poor  man's  cottage  and  to  the  gate  of  the  palace  j 
and  protestantism  proclaimed  that  all  men  are  alike  able  to 
find  the  road  to  heaven.  The  discovery  of  America  offered 
a  thousand  new  paths  to  fortune,  and  placed  riches  and  power 
within  the  reach  of  the  adventurous  and  the  obscure. 

If  we  examine  what  has  happened  in  France  at  intervals 
of  fifty  years,  beginning  with  the  eleventh  century,  we  shall 
invariably  perceive  that  a  twofold  revolution  has  taken  place 
in  the  state  of  society.  The  noble  has  gone  down  on  the  so 
cial  ladder,  and  the  roturier  has  gone  up  ;  the  one  descends 
as  the  other  rises.  Every  half-century  brings  them  nearer 
to  each  other,  and  they  will  very  shortly  meet. 

Nor  is  this  phenomenon  at  all  peculiar  to  France.  Whith 
ersoever  we  turn  our  eyes,  we  shall  discover  the  same  con 
tinual  revolution  throughout  the  whole  of  Christendom. 

The  various  occurrences  of  national  existence  have  every 
where  turned  to  the  advantage  of  democracy ;  all  men  have 
aided  it  by  their  exertions ;  those  who  have  intentionally  la 
bored  in  its  cause,  and  those  who  have  served  it  unwittingly 
— those  who  have  fought  for  it.  and  those  who  have  declared 
themselves  its  opponents — have  all  been  driven  along  in  the 
same  track,  have  all  labored  to  one  end,  some  ignorantly, 
and  some  unwillingly ;  all  have  been  blind  instruments  in  the 
hands  of  God. 

The  gradual  development  of  the  equality  of  conditions  is, 
therefore,  a  providential  fact,  and*  it  possesses  all  the  charac 
teristics  of  a  divine  decree :  it  is  universal,  it  is  durable,  it 
constantly  eludes  all  human  interference,  and  all  events  as 
well  as  all  men  contribute  to  its  progress. 

Would  it,  then,  be  wise  to  imagine  that  a  social  impulse 
which  dates  from  so  far  back,  can  be  checked  by  the  efforts 
of  a  generation  ?  Is  it  credible  that  the  democracy  which 
has  annihilated  the  feudal  system,  and  vanquished  kings,  will 
respect  the  citizen  and  the  capitalist  ?  Will  it  stop  now  that 
it  has  grown  so  strong  and  its  adversaries  so  weak  ? 

None  can  say  which  way  we  are  going,  for  all  terms  of 
comparison  are  wanting  :  the  equality  of  conditions  is  more 
complete  in  the  Christian  countries  of  the  present  day,  than 
it  has  been  at  any  time,  or  in  any  part  of  the  world  ;  so  that 
the  extent  of  what  already  exists  prevents  us  from  foreseeing 
what  may  be  yet  to  come. 

The  whole  book  which  is  here  offered  to  the  .public,  has 
been  written  under  the  impression  of  a  kind  of  religious 
dread,  produced  in  the  author's  mind  by  the  contemplation  of 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

so  irresistible  a  revolution,  which  has  advanced  for  centuries 
in  spite  of  such  amazing  obstacles,  and  which  is  still  pro 
ceeding  in  the  midst  of  the  ruins  it  has  made. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  God  himself  should  speak  in  order 
to  disclose  to  us  the  unquestionable  signs  of  his  will ;  we  can 
discern  them  in  the  habitual  course  of  nature,  and  in  the  in 
variable  tendency  of  events^  I  know,  without  a  special  re 
velation,  that  the  planets  move  in  the  orbits  traced  by  the 
Creator's  fingers. 

If  the  men  of  our  time  were  led  by  attentive  observation 
and  by  sincere  reflection,  to  acknowledge  that  the  gradual 
and  progressive  development  of  social  equality  is  at  once  the 
past  and  future  of  their  history,  this  solitary  truth  would  con 
fer  the  sacred  character  of  a  divine  decree  upon  the  change. 
To  attempt  to  check  democracy  would  be  in  that  case  to  re 
sist  the  will  of  God  ;  and  the  nations  would  then  be  constrain 
ed  to  make  the  best  of  the  social  lot  awarded  to  them  by 
Providence. 

The  Christian  nations  of  our  age  seem  to  me  to  present 
a    most    alarming  spectacle ;    the  impulse  which  is  bear 
ing  them  along  is  so  strong  that  it  cannot  be  stopped,  but  it  is 
not  yet  so  rapid  that  it  cannot  be  guided  :  their  fate  is  in  their    1 
hands ;  yet  a  little  while  and  it  may  be  so  no  longer. 

The  first  duty  which  is  at  this  time  imposed  upon  those 
who  direct  our  affairs  is  to  educate  the  democracy  ;  to  warm 
its  faith,  if  that  be  possible  ;  to  purify  its  morals ;  to  direci 
its  energies;  to  substitute  a  knowledge  of  business  for  its 
inexperience,  and  an  acquaintance  with  its  true  interests  for 
its  blind  propensities ;  to  adapt  its  government  to  time  and 
place,  and  to  modify  it  in  compliance  with  the  occurrences 
and  the  actors  of  the  age. 

A  new  science  of  politics  is  indispensable  to  a  new  world. 

This,  however,  is  what  we  think  of  least ;  launched  in  the 
middle  of  a  rapid  stream,  we  obstinately  fix  our  eyes  on  the 
ruins  which  may  still  be  descried  upon  the  shore  we  have 
left,  while  the  current  sweeps  us  along,  and  drives  us  back 
ward  toward  the  gulf. 

In  no  country  in  Europe  has  the  great  social  revolution 
which  I  have  been  describing,  made  such  rapid  progress  as 
in  France ;  but  it  has  always  been  borne  on  by  chance. 
The  heads  of  the  state  have  never  had  any  forethought  for 
its  exigences,  and  its  victories  have  been  obtained  without 
their  consent  or  without  their  knowledge.  The  most  power 
ful,  the  most  intelligent,  and  the  most  moral  classes  of  the 
nation  have  never  attempted  to  connect  themselves  with  it  in 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

order  to  guide  it.  The  people  have  consequently  been  aban 
doned  to  its  wild  propensities,  and  it  has  grown  up  like  those 
outcasts  who  receive  their  education  in  the  public  streets,  and 
who  are  unacquainted  with  aught  but  the  vices  and  wretched 
ness  of  society.  The  existence  of  a  democracy  was  seem 
ingly  unknown, -when,  on  a  sudden,  it  took  possession  of  the 
supreme  power.  Everything  was  then  submitted  to  its  ca 
prices  ;  it  was  worshipped  as  the  idol  of  strength ;  until, 
when  it  was  enfeebled  by  its  own  excesses,  the  legislator 
conceived  the  rash  project  of  annihilating  its  power,  instead 
of  instructing  it  and  correcting  its  vices ;  no  attempt  was 
made  to  fit  it  to  govern,  but  all  were  bent  on  excluding  it 
from  the  government. 

The  consequence  of  this  has  been  that  the  democratic  re 
volution  has  been  effected  only  in  the  material  parts  of  society, 
without  that  concomitant  change  in  laws,  ideas,  customs,  and 
manners,  which  was  necessary  to  render  such  a  revolution 
beneficial.  We  have  gotten  a  democracy,  but  without  the 
conditions  which  lessen  its  vices,  and  render  its  natural  ad 
vantages  more  prominent  j  and  although  we  already  perceive 
the  evils  it  brings,  we  are  ignorant  of  the  benefits  it  may 
confer. 

While  the  power  of  the  crown,  supported  by  the  aristo 
cracy,  peaceably  governed  the  nations  of  Europe,  society 
possessed,  in  the  midst  of  its  wretchedness,  several  different 
advantages  which  can  now  scarcely  be  appreciated  or  con 
ceived. 

The  power  of  a  part  of  his  subjects  was  an  insurmounta 
ble  barrier  to  the  tyranny  of  the  prince ;  and  the  monarch 
who  felt  the  almost  divine  character  which  he  enjoyed  in  tha 
eyes  of  the  multitude,  derived  a  motive  for  the  just  use  of  his 
power  from  the  respect  which  he  inspired. 

High  as  they  were  placed  above  the  people,  the  nobles 
could  not  but  take  that  calm  and  benevolent  interest  in  its  fate 
which  the  shepherd  feels  toward  his  flock ;  and  without  ac 
knowledging  the  poor  as  their  equals,  they  watched  over  the 
destiny  of  those  whose  welfare  Providence  had  intrusted  to 
their  care. 

The  people,  never  having  conceived  the  idea  of  a  social 
condition  different  from  its  own,  and  entertaining  no  expecta- 
j  tion  of  ever  ranking  with  its  chiefs,  received  benefits  from 
j  them  without  discussing  their  rights.  It  grew  attached  to 
them  when  they  were  clement  and  just,  but  it  submitted  with 
out  resistance  or  servility  to  their  exactions,  as  to  the  inevita 
ble  visitations  of  the  arm  of  God.  Custom,  and  the  manners 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

of  the  time,  had  moreover  created  a  species  of  law  in  the 
midst  of  violence,  and  established  certain  limits  to  op 
pression. 

As  the  noble  never  suspected  that  any  one  would  attempt 
to  deprive  him  of  the  privileges  which  he  believed  to  be  le 
gitimate,  and  as  the  serf  looked  upon  his  own  inferiority  as  a 
consequence  of  the  immutable  order  of  nature,  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  that  a  mutual  exchange  of  good-will  took  place  be 
tween  two  classes  so  differently  gifted  by  fate.  Inequality 
and  wretchedness  were  then  to  be  found  in  society ;  but  the 
souls  of  neither  rank  of  men  were  degraded. 

Men  are^  not  corrupted  by  the  exercise  of  power  or^  debased 
by  the  habit  of  obedience;  but  by. the  exercise  of. power 
which  they  believe  to  be  illegal,  and  by  obedience  to  a  rule 
which  they  consider  to  be  usurped  and  oppressive. 

On  one  side  were  wealth,  strength,  and  leisure,  accompa 
nied  by  the  refinement  of  luxury,  the  elegance  of  taste,  the 
pleasures  of  wit,  and  the  religion  of  art.  On  the  other  were 
]abor,  and  a  rude  ignorance ;  but  in  the  midst  of  this  coarse 
and  ignorant  multitude,  it  was  not  uncommon  to  meet  with 
energetic  passions,  generous  sentiments,  profound  religious 
convictions,  and  independent  virtues. 

The  body  of  a  state  thus  organized,  might  boast  of  its  sta 
bility,  its  power,  and  above  all,  of  its  glory. 

But  the  scene  is  now  changed,  and  gradually  the  two  ranks  \ 
mingle ;  the  divisions  which  once  severed  mankind,  are  low-  ' 
ered  ;  property  is  divided,  power  is  held  in  common,  the  light 
of  intelligence  spreads,  and  the  capacities  of  all  classes  are 
equally  cultivated  ;  the  state  becomes  democratic,  and  the 
empire  of  democracy  is  slowly  and  peaceably  introduced  into 
the  institutions  and  manners  of  the  nation. 

I  can  conceive  a  society  in  which  all  men  would  profess  an 
equal  attachment  and  respect  for  the  laws  of  which  they  are 
the  common  authors  ;  in  which  the  authority  of  the  state 
would  be  respected  as  necessary,  though  not  as  divine ;  and 
the  loyalty  of  the  subject  to  the  chief  magistrate  would  not 
be  a  passion,  but  a  quiet  and  rational  persuasion.  Every  in 
dividual  being  in  the  possession  of  rights  which  he  is  sure  to 
retain,  a  kind  of  manly  reliance  and  reciprocal  courtesy 
would  arise  between  all  classes,  alike  removed  from  pride 
and  meanness. 

The  people,  well  acquainted  with  its  true  interests,  would 
allow,  that  in  order  to  profit  by  the  advantages  of  society,  it  is 
necessary  to  satisfy  its  demands.  In  this  state  of  things,  the 
voluntary  association  of  the  citizens  might  supply  the  indi- 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

vidual  exertions  of  the  nobles,  and  the  community  would  be 
alike  protected  from  anarchy  and  from  oppression. 

I  admit  that  in  a  democratic  state  thus  constituted,  society 
will  not  be  stationary  ;  but  the  impulses  of  the  social  body 
may  be  regulated  and  directed  forward ;  if  there  be  less 
splendor  than  in  the  halls  of  an  aristocracy,  the  contrast  of 
misery  will  be  less  frequent  also  ;  the  pleasures  of  enjoy 
ment  may  be  less  excessive,  but  those  of  comfort  will  be  more 
general ;  the  sciences  may  be  less  perfectly  cultivated,  but 
ignorance  will  be  less  common  ;  the  impetuosity  of  the  feel 
ings  will  be  repressed,  and  the  habits  of  the  nation  softened  ; 
there  will  be  more  vices  and  fewer  crimes. 
~~  In  the  absence  of  enthusiasm  and  of  an  ardent  faith,  great 
sacrifices  may  be  obtained  from  the  members  of  a  common 
wealth  by  an  appeal  to  their  understandings  and  their  experi 
ence  :  each  individual  will  feel  the  same  necessity  for  uniting 
with  his  fellow-citizens  to  protect  his  own  weakness  ;  and  as 
he  knows  that  if  they  are  to  assist  he  must  co-operate,  he  will 
readily  perceive  that  his  personal  interest  is  identified  with  the 
interest  of  the  community. 

The  nation,  taken  as  a  whole,  will  be  less  brilliant,  less 
glorious,  and  perhaps  less  strong ;  but  the  majority  of  the 
citizens  will  enjoy  a  greater  degree  of  prosperity,  and  the 
people  will  remain  quiet,  not  because  it  despairs  of  meliora 
tion,  but  because  it  is  conscious  of  the  advantages  of  its  con 
dition. 

If  all  the  consequences  of  this  state  of  things  were  not  good 
or  useful,  society  would  at  least  have  appropriated  all  such 
as  were  useful  and  good ;  and  having  once  and  for  ever  re 
nounced  the  social  advantages  of  aristocracy,  mankind  would 
enter  into  possession  of  all  the  benefits  which  democracy  can 
afford. 

But  here  it  may  be  asked  what  we  have  adopted  in  the 
place  of  those  institutions,  those  ideas,  and  those  customs  of 
our  forefathers  which  we  have  abandoned,  v 

The  spell  of  royalty  is  broken,  but  it  has  not  been  suc 
ceeded  by  the  majesty  of  the  laws  ;  the  people  have  learned 
to  despise  all  authority.  But  fear  now  extorts  a  larger  tri 
bute  of  obedience  than  that  which  was  formerly  paid  by 
reverence  and  by  love. 

I  perceive  that  we  have  destroyed  those  independent  beings 
which  were 'able  to  cope  with  tyranny  single-handed ;  but  it 
is  the  government  that  has  inherited  the  privileges  of  which 
families,  corporations,  and  individuals,  have  been  deprived ; 
the  weakness  of  the  whole  community  has,  therefore,  sue- 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

ceeded  to  that  influence  of  a  small  body  of  citizens,  which,  if 
it  was  sometimes  oppressive,  was  often  conservative. 

The  division  of  property  has  lessened  the  distance  which 
separated  the  rich  from  the  poor ;  but  it  would  seem  that  the 
nearer  they  draw  to  each  other,  the  greater  is  their  mutual 
hatred,  and  the  more  vehement  the  envy  and  the  dread  with 
which  they  resist  each  other's  claims  to  power;  the  notion  of 
right  is  alike  insensible  to  both  classes,  and  force  affords  to 
both  the  only  argument  for  the  present,  and  the  only 
guarantee  for  the  future. 

The  poor  man  retains  the  prejudices  of  his  forefathers 
without  their  faith,  and  their  ignorance  without  their  virtues  ; 
he  has  adopted  the  doctrine  of  self-interest  as  the  rule  of  his 
actions,  without  understanding  the  science  which  controls  it, 
and  his  egotism  is  no  less  blind  than  his  devotedness  was 
formerly. 

If  society  is  tranquil,  it  is  not  because  it  relies  upon  its 
strength  and  its  well-being,  but  because  it  knows  its  weak 
ness  and  its  infirmities  ;  a  single  effort  may  cost  it  its  life  ; 
everybody  feels  the  evil,  but  no  one  has  courage  or  energy 
enough  to  seek  the  cure  ;  the  desires,  the  regret,  the  sorrows, 
and  the  joys  of  the  time,  produce  nothing  that  is  visible  or 
permanent,  like  the  passions  of  old  men  which  terminate  in 
impotence. 

We  have,  then,  abandoned  whatever  advantages  the  old 
state  of  things  afforded,  without  receiving  any  compensation 
from  our  present  condition  ;  having  destroyed  an  aristocracy, 
we  seem  inclined  to  survey  its  ruins  with  complacency,  and 
to  fix  our  abode  in  the  midst  of  them. 

The  phenomena  which  the  intellectual  world  presents,  are 
not  less  deplorable.  The  democracy  of  France,  checked  in 
its  course  or  abandoned  to  its  lawless  passions,  has  over 
thrown  whatever  crossed  its  path,  and  has  shaken  all  that  it 
has  not  destroyed.  Its  control  over  society  has  not  been 
gradually  introduced,  or  peaceably  established,  but  it  has 
constantly  advanced  in  the  midst  of  disorder,  and  the  agita 
tion  of  a  conflict.  In  the  heat  of  the  struggle  each  partisan 
is  hurried  beyond  the  limits  of  his  opinions  by  the  opinions 
and  the  excesses  of  his  opponents,  until  he  loses  sight  of  the 
end  of  his  exertions,  and  holds  a  language  which  disguises 
his  real  sentiments  or  secret  instincts.  Hence  arises  the 
strange  confusion  which  we  are  beholding. 

I  cannot  recall  to  my  mind  a  passage  in  history  more 
worthy  of  sorrow  and  of  pity  than  the  scenes  which  are  hap 
pening  under  our  eyes ;  it  is  as  if  the  natural  bond  which 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

unites  the  opinions  of  man  to  his  tastes,  and  his  actions.,  to  his 
principles,  was  now  broken  ;  the  sympathy  which  has  always 
been  acknowledged  between  the  feelings  and  the  ideas  of 
mankind,  appears  to  be  dissolved,  and  all  the  laws  of  moral 
analogy  to  be  abolished. 

Zealous  Christians  may  be  found  among  us,  whose  minds 
are  nurtured  in  the  love  and  knowledge  of  a  future  life,  and 
who  readily  espouse  the  cause  of  human  liberty,  as  the 
source  of  all  moral  greatness.  Christianity,  which  has  de- 
declared  that  all  men  are  equal  in  the  sight  of  God,  will  not 
refuse  to  acknowledge  that  all  citizens  are  equal  in  the  eye 
of  the  law.  But,  by  a  singular  concourse  of  events,  religion 
is  entangled  in  those  institutions  which  democracy  assails, 
and  it  is  not  unfrequently  brought  to  reject  the  equality  it 
loves,  and  to  curse  that  cause  of  liberty  as  a  foe,  which  it 
might  hallow  by  its  alliance. 

By  the  side  of  these  religious  men  I  discern  others  whose 
looks  are  turned  to  the  earth  more  than  to  heaven ;  they  are 
the  partisans  of  liberty,  hot  only  as  the  source  of  the  noblest 
virtues,  but  more  especially  as  the  root  of  all  solid  advan 
tages  ;  and  they  sincerely  desire  to  extend  its  sway,  and  to 
impart  its  blessings  to  mankind.  It  is  natural  that  they 
should  hasten  to  invoke  the  assistance  of  religion,  for  they 
must  know  that  liberty  cannot  be  established  without  mo 
rality,  nor  morality  without  faith ;  but  they  have  seen 
religion  in  the  ranks  of  their  adversaries,  and  they  inquire  no 
farther  ;  some  of  them  attack  it  openly,  and  the  remainder  are 
afraid  to  defend  it. 

In  former  ages  slavery  has  been  advocated  by  the  venal 
and  slavish-minded,  while  the  independent  and  the  warm 
hearted  were  struggling  without  hope  to  save  the  liberties  of 
mankind.  But  men  of  high  and  generous  characters  are 
now  to  be  met  with,  whose  opinions  are  at  variance  with 
their  inclinations,  and  who  praise  that  servility  which  they 
have  themselves  never  known.  Others,  on  the  contrary, 
speak  in  the  name  of  liberty  as  if  they  were  able  to  feel  its 
sanctity  and  its  majesty,  and  loudly  claim  for  humanity 
those  rights  which  they  have  always  disowned. 

There  are  virtuous  and  peaceful  individuals  whose  pure 
morality,  quiet  habits,  affluence,  and  talents,  fit  them  to  be 
the  leaders  of  the  surrounding  population ;  their  love  of  their 
country  is  sincere,  and  they  are  prepared  to  make  the  great 
est  sacrifices  to  its  welfare,  but  they  confound  the  abuses  of 
civilisation  with  its  benefits,  and  the  idea  of  evil  is  insepara 
ble  in  fhcir  minds  from  that  of  novelty. 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

I , 

Not  far  from  this  class  is  another  party,  whose  object  is  to 
materialise  mankind,  to  hit  upon  what  is  expedient  without 
heeding  what  is  just ;  to  acquire  knowledge  without  faith, 
and  prosperity  apart  from  virtue ;  assuming  the  title  of  the 
champions  of  modern  civilisation,  and  placing  themselves  in 
a  station  which  they  usurp  with  insolence,  and  from  which 
they  are  driven  by  their  own  unworthiness. 

Where  are  we  then  ? 

"The  religionists  are  the  enemies  of  liberty,  and  the  friends 
of  liberty  attack  religion ;  the  high-minded  and  the'  noble 
advocate  subjection,  and  the  meanest  and  most  servile  minds 
preach  independence  ;  honest  and  enlightened  citizens  are 
opposed  to  all  progress,  while  men  without  patriotism  and 
without  principles,  are  the  apostles  of  civilisation  and  of  in 
telligence. 

Has  such  been  the  fate  of  the  centuries  which  have  pre 
ceded  our  own?  and  has  man  always  inhabited  a  world,  like 
the  present,  where  nothing  is  linked  together,  where  virtue  is 
without  genius,  and  genius  without  honor ;  where  the  love  of 
order  is  confounded  with  a  taste  for  oppression,  and  the  holy 
rites  of  freedom  with  a  contempt  of  law  ;  where  the  light 
thrown  by  conscience  on  human  actions  is  dim,  and  where 
nothing  seems  to  be  any  longer  forbidden  or  allowed,  honor 
able  or  shameful,  false  or  true  ? 

I  cannot,  however,  believe  that  the  Creator  made  man  to 
leave  him  in  an  endless  struggle  with  the  intellectual  mise 
ries  which  surround  us :  God  destines  a  calmer  and  a  more 
certain  future  to  the  communities  of  Europe ;  I  am  unac 
quainted  with  his  designs,  but  I  shall  not  cease  to  believe  in 
them  because  I  cannot  fathom  them,  and  I  had  rather  mis 
trust  my  own  capacity  than  his  justice. 

There  is  a  country  in  the  world  where  the  great  revolution 
which  I  am  speaking  of  seems  nearly  to  have  reached  its 
natural  limits ;  it  has  been  effected  with  ease  and  simplicity, 
say  rather  that  this  country  has  attained  the  consequences  of 
the  democratic  revolution  which  "we  are  undergoing,  without 
having  experienced  the  revolution  itself. 

The  emigrants  who  fixed  themselves  on  the  shores  of 
America  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  severed 
the  democratic  principle  from  all  the  principles  which  re 
pressed  it  in  the  old  communities  of  Europe,  and  trans 
planted  it  unalloyed  to  the  New  World.  It  has  there  been 
allowed  to  spread  in  perfect  freedom,  and  to  put  forth  its  con 
sequences  in  the  laws  by  influencing  the  manners  of  the 
country. 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

It  appears  to  me  beyond  a  doubt,  that  sooner  or  later  we 
shall  arrive,  like  the  Americans,  at  an  almost  complete 
equality  of  conditions.  But  I  do  not  conclude  from  this,  that 
we  shall  ever  benecessarily  led  to  draw  the  same  political 
consequences  which  the  Americans  have  derived  from  a 
similar  social  organization.  I  am  far  from  supposing  thai 
they  have  chosen  the  only  form  of  government  which  a 
democracy  may  adopt;  but  the  identity  of  the  efficient  cause 
of  laws  and  manners  in  the  two  countries  is  sufficient  to 
account  for  the  immense  interest  we  have  in  becoming 
acquainted  with  its  effects  in  each  of  them. 

It  is  not,  then,  merely  to  satisfy  a  legitimate  curiosity  that 
I  have  examined  America  ;  my  wish  has  been  to  find  instruc 
tion  by  which  we  may  ourselves  profit.  Whoever  should 
imagine  that  I  have  intended  to  write  a  panegyric  would  be 
strangely  mistaken,  and  on  reading  this  book,  he  will  per 
ceive  that  such  was  not  my  design :  nor  has  it  been  my 
object  to  advocate  any  form  of  government  in  particular,  for 
I  am  of  opinion  that  absolute  excellence  is  rarely  to  be  found 
in  any  legislation  ;  I  have  not  even  affected  to  discuss  whe 
ther  the  social  revolution,  which  I  believe  to  be  irresistible, 
is  advantageous  or  prejudicial  to  mankind  ;  I  have  acknow 
ledged  this  revolution  as  a  fact  already  accomplished  or  on 
the  eve  of  its  accomplishment ;  and  I  have  selected  the 
nation,  from  among  those  which  have  undergone  it,  in  which 
its  development  has  been  the  most  peaceful  and  the  most 
complete,  in  order  to  discern  its  natural  consequences,  and, 
if  it  be  possible,  to  distinguish  the  means  by  which  it  may  be 
rendered  profitable.  I  confess  that  in  America  I  saw  more 
than  America  ;  I  sought  the  image  of  democracy  itself,  with 
its  inclinations,  its  character,  its  prejudices,  and  its  passions, 
in  order  to  learn  what  we  have  to  fear  or  to  hope  from  its 
progress. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  work  I  have  attempted  to  show  the 
tendency  given  to  the  laws  by  the  democracy  of  America, 
which  is  abandoned  almost  without  restraint  to  its  instinctive 
propensities ;  and  to  exhibit  the  course  it  prescribes  to  the 
government,  and  the  influence  it  exercises  on  affairs.  I 
have  sought  to  discover  the  evils  and  the  advantages  which 
it  produces.  I  have  examined  the  precautions  used  by  the 
Americans  to  direct  it,  as  well  as  those  which  they  have  not 
adopted,  and  I  have  undertaken  to  point  out  the  causes  which 
enable  it  to  govern  society. 

It  was  my  intention  to  depict,  in  a  second  part,  the  influ- 
*>nce  which  the  equality  of  conditions  and  the  rule  of  de- 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

mocracy  exercise  on  the  civil  society,  the  habits,  the  ideas, 
and  the  manners  of  the  Americans ;  I  begin,  however,  to 
feel  less  ardor  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  project,  since 
the  excellent  work  of  my  friend  and  travelling  companion 
M.  de  Beaumont  has  been  given  to  the  world.*  I  do  not 
know  whether  I  have  succeeded  in  making  known  what  I 
saw  in  America,  but  I  am  certain  that  such  has  been  my 
sincere  desire,  and  that  I  have  never,  knowingly,  moulded 
facts  to  ideas,  instead  of  ideas  to  facts. 

Whenever  a  point  could  be  established  by  the  aid  of  writ 
ten  documents,  I  have  had  recourse  to  the  original  text,  and 
to  the  most  authentic  and  approved  works. f  I  have  cited 
my  authorities  in  the  notes,  and  any  one  may  refer  to  them. 
Whenever  an  opinion,  a  political  custom,  or  a  remark  on  the 
manners  of  the  country  was  concerned,  I  endeavored  to 
consult  the  most  enlightened  men  I  met  with.  If  the  point  in 
question  was  important  or  doubtful,  I  was  not  satisfied  with 
one  testimony,  but  I  formed  my  opinion  on  the  evidence  of 
several  witnesses.  Here  the  reader  must  necessarily  believe 
me  upon  my  word.  I  could  frequently  have  quoted  names 
which  are  either  known  to  him,  or  which  deserve  to  be  so, 
in  proof  of  what  I  advance  ;  but  I  have  carefully  abstained 
from  this  practice.  A  stranger  frequently  hears  important 
truths  at  the  fireside  of  his  host,  which  the  latter  would  per 
haps  conceal  even  from  the  ear  of  friendship ;  he  consoles 
himself  with  his  guest,  for  the  silence  to  which  he  is  re 
stricted,  and  the  shortness  of  the  traveller's  stay  takes  away 
all  fear  of  his  indiscretion.  I  carefully  noted  every  con 
versation  of  this  nature  as  soon  as  it  occurred,  but  th§se 
notes  will  never  leave  my  writing-case  ;  I  had  rather  injure 
the  success  of  my  statements  than  add  my  name  to  the  list 
of  those  strangers  who  repay  the  generous  hospitality  they 
have  received  by  subsequent  chagrin  and  annoyance. 

I    am    aware    that,    notwithstanding    my   care,    nothing 

*  This  work  is  entitled,  Marie,  ou  1'Esclavage  aux  Etats-Unis. 

t  Legislative  and  administrative  documents  have  been  furnished  me 
with  a  degree  of  politeness  which  I  shall  always  remember  with  grati 
tude.  Among  the  American  functionaries  who  thus  favored  my  in 
quiries  I  am  proud  to  name  Mr.  Edward  Livingston,  then  Secretary 
of  State  and  late  American  minister  at  Paris.  During  my  stay  at  the 
session  of  Congress,  Mr.  Livingston  was  kind  enough  to  furnish  me 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  documents  I  possess  relative  to  the  federal 
government.  Mr.  Livingston  is  one  of  those  rare  individuals  whom 
one  loves,  respects,  and  admires,  from  their  writings,  and  to  whom  one 
is  happy  to  incur  the  debt  of  gratitude  on  further  acquaintance. 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

will  be  easier  than  to  criticise  this  book,  if  any  one  ever 
chooses  to  criticise  it. 

Those  readers  who  may  examine  it  closely  will  discover 
the  fundamental  idea  which  connects  the  several  parts  to 
gether.  But  the  diversity  of  the  subjects  I  have  had  to  treat 
is  exceedingly  great,  and  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  oppose  an 
isolated  fact  to  the  body  of  facts  which  I  quote,  or  an  isolated 
idea  to  the  body  of  ideas  I  put  forth.  I  hope  to  be  read  in 
the  spirit  which  has  guided  my  labors,  and  that  my  book 
may  be  judged  by  the  general  impression  it  leaves,  as  I  have 
formed  my  own  judgment  not  on  any  single  reason,  but  upon 
the  mass  of  evidence. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  author  who  wishes  to  be 
Understood  is  obliged  to  push  all  his  ideas  to  their  utmost 
theoretical  consequences,  and  often  to  the  verge  of  what  is 
false  or  impracticable ;  for  if  it  be  necessary  sometimes  to 
quit  the  rules  of  logic  in  active  life,  such  is  not  the  case  in 
discourse,  and  a  man  finds  that  almost  as  many  difficulties 
spring  from  inconsistency  of  language,  as  usually  arise  from 
consistency  of  conduct. 

I  conclude  by  pointing  out  myself  what  many  readers 
will  consider  the  principal  defect  of  the  work.  This  hook 
is  written  to  favor  no  particular  views,  and  in  composing  it 
I  have  entertained  no  design  of  serving  or  attacking  any 
party :  I  have  undertaken  not  to  see  differently,  but  to  look 
farther  than  parties,  and  while  they  are  busied  for  the  mor 
row,  I  have  turned  my  thoughts  to  the  future, 


AMERICAN  INSTITUTIONS, 


CHAPTER  I. 

EXTERIOR   FORM    OF   NORTH   AMERICA. 

North  America  divided  into  two  vast  regions,  one  inclining;  toward  the 
Pole,  the  other  toward  the  Equator. — Valley  of  the  Mississippi. — 
Traces  of  the  Revolutions  of  the  Globe. — Shore  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  where  the  English  Colonies  were  founded. — Difference  in  the 
Appearance  of  North  and  of  South  America  at  the  Time  of  their 
Discovery. — Forests  of  North  America. — Prairies. — Wandering 
Tribes  of  Natives. — Their  outward  Appearance,  Manners,  and  Lan 
guage. — Traces  of  an  Unknown  People. 

NORTH  AMERICA  presents  in  its  external  form  certain  general 
features,  which  it  is  easy  to  discriminate  at  the  first  glance. 

A  sort  of  methodical  order  seems  to  have  regulated  the 
separation  of  land  and  water,  mountains  and  valleys.  A 
simple  but  grand  arrangement  is  discoverable  amid  the  con 
fusion  of  objects  and  the  prodigious  variety  of  scenes. 

This  continent  is  divided,  almost  equally,  into  two  vast 
regions,  one  of  which  is  bounded,  on  the  north  by  the  arctic 
pole,  and  by  the  two  great  oceans  on  the  east  and  west.  It 
stretches  toward  the  south,  forming  a  triangle,  whose  irregu 
lar  sides  meet  at  length  below  the  great  lakes  of  Canada. 

The  second  region  begins  where  the  other  terminates,  and 
includes  all  the  remainder  of  the  continent. 

The  one  slopes  gently  toward  the  pole,  the  other  toward 
the  equator. 

The  territory  comprehended  in  the  first  regions  descends 
toward  the  north  with  so  imperceptible  a  slope  that  it  may 
almost  be  said  to  form  a  level  plain.  Within  the  bounds  of 
this  immense  tract  of  country  there  are  neither  high  moun- 


16  EXTERIOR    FORM    OF 

tains  nor  deep  valleys.  Streams  meander  through  it  irregu- 
lariy  ;  great  rivers  mix  their  currents,  separate  and  meet 
again,  disperse  and  form  vast  marshes,  losing  all  trace  of  their 
channels  in  the  labyrinth  of  waters  they  have  themselves 
created  ;  and  thus,  at  length,  after  innumerable  windings, 
fall  into  the  polar  seas.  The  great  lakes  which  bound  this 
first  region  are  not  walled  in,  like  most  of  those  in  the  Old 
World,  between  hills  and  rocks.  Their  banks  are  flat,  and 
rise  but  a  few  feet  above  the  level  of  their  waters  ;  each  of 
them  thus  forming  a  vast  bowl  filled  to  the  brim.  The 
slightest  change  in  the  structure  of  the  globe  would  cause 
their  waters  to  rush  either  toward  the  pole  or  to  the  tropical 
sea. 

The  second  region  is  more  varied  on  its  surface,  and  better 
suited  for  the  habitation  of  man.  Two  long  chains  of  moun 
tains  divide  it  from  one  extreme  to  the  other  ;  the  Allegany 
ridge  takes  the  form  of  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  ocean  ;  the 
other  is  parallel  with  the  Pacific. 

The  space  which  lies  between  these  two  chains  of  moun 
tains  contains  1,341,649  square  miles.*  Its  surface  is  there 
fore  about  six  times  as  great  as  that  of  France. 

This  vast  territory,  however,  forms  a  single  valley,  one 
side  of  which  descends  gradually  from  the  rounded  summits 
of  the  Alleganies,  while  the  other  rises  in  an  uninterrupted 
course  toward  the  tops  of  the  Rocky  mountains. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  valley  flows  an  immense  river,  into 
which  the  various  streams  issuing  from  the  mountains  fall 
from  all  parts.  In  memory  of  their  native  land,  the  French 
formerly  called  this  the  river  St.  Louis.  The  Indians,  in 
their  pompous  language,  have  named  it  the  Father  of  Waters, 
or  the  Mississippi. 

The  Mississippi  takes  its  source  above  the  limit  of  the  two 
great  regions  of  which  I  have  spoken,  not  far  from  the  highest 
point  of  the  table-land  where  they  unite.  Near  the  same 
spot  rises  another  river,']'  which  empties  itself  into  the  polar 
seas.  The  course  of  the  Mississippi  is  at  first  devious  :  it 
winds  several  times  toward  the  north,  whence  it  rose  ;  and, 
at  length,  after  having  been  delayed  in  lakes  and  marshes,  it 
flows  slowly  onward  to  the  south. 

Sometimes  quietly  gliding  along  the  argillaceous  bed  which 
nature  has  assigned  to  it ;  sometimes  swollen  by  storms,  the 
Mississippi  waters  2,500  miles  in  its  course 4  At  the 

*  Darby's  "View  of  the  United  States."         f  Mackenzie's  river, 
t  Warden's  "  Description  of  the  United  States." 


NORTH   AMERICA.  17 

tance  of  1,364  miles  from  its  mouth  this  river  attains  an 
average  depth  of  fifteen  feet ;  and  it  is  navigated  by  vessels 
of  300  tons  burden  for  a  course  of  nearly  500  miles.  Fifty- 
seven  large  navigable  rivers  contribute  to  swell  the  waters 
of  the  Mississippi ;  among  others  the  Missouri,  which  tra 
verses  a  space  of  2,500  miles  ;  the  Arkansas  of  1,300  miles  ; 
the  Red  river  1,000  miles  ;  four  whose  course  is  from  800  to 
1000  miles  in  length,  viz.,  the  Illinois,  the  St.  Peter's,  the  St. 
Francis,  arid  the  Moingona  ;  besides  a  countless  number  of 
rivulets  which  unite  from  all  parts  their  tributary  streams. 

The  valley  which  is  watered  by  the  Mississippi  seems 
formed  to  be  the  bed  of  this  mighty  river,  which  like  a  god 
of  antiquity  dispenses  both  good  and  evil  in  its  course.  On 
the  shores  of  the  stream  nature  displays  an  inexhaustible 
fertility  ;  in  proportion  as  •  you  recede  from  its  banks,  the 
powers  of  vegetation  languish,  the  soil  becomes  poor,  arid 
the  plants  that  survive  have  a  'sickly  growth.  Nowhere 
have  the  great  convulsions  of  the  globe  left  more  evident 
traces  than  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi :  the  whole  aspect 
of  the  country  shows  the  powerful  effects  of  water,  both  by 
its  fertility  and  by  its  barrenness.  The  waters  of  the  prime 
val  ocean  accumulated  enormous  beds  of  vegetable  mould  in 
the  valley,  which  they  levelled  as  they  retired.  Upon  the 
right  shore  of  the  river  are  seen  immense  plains,  as  smooth 
as  if  the  husbandman  had  passed  over  them  with  his  roller. 
As  you-  approach  the  mountains,  the  soil  becomes  more  and 
more  unequal  and  sterile  ;  the  ground  is,  as  it  were,  pierced 
in  a  thousand  places  by  primitive  rocks,  which  appear  like 
the  bones  of  a  skeleton  whose  flesh  is  partly  consumed.  The 
surface  of  the  earth  is  covered  with  a  granitic  sand,  and 
huge  irregular  masses  of  stone,  among  which  a  few  plants 
force  their  growth,  and  give  the  appearance  of  a  green  field 
covered  with  the  ruins  of  a  vast  edifice.  These  stones  and 
this  sand  discover,  on  examination,  a  perfect  analogy  with 
those  which  compose  the  arid  and  broken  summits  of  the 
Rocky  mountains.  The  flood  of  waters  which  washed  the 
soil  to  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  afterward  carried  away  por 
tions  of  the  rocks  themselves  ;  and  these,  dashed  and  bruised 
against  the  neighboring  cliffs,  were  left  scattered  like  wrecks 
at  their  feet.* 

The  valley  of  the  Mississippi  is,  upon  the  whole,  the  most 
magnificent  dwelling-place  prepared  by  God  for  man's  abode  ; 
and  yet  it  may  be  said  that  at  present  it  is  but  a  mighty 
desert. 

"  See  Appendix  A. 
2 


18  EXTERIOR    FORM    OP 

j| 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Alleganies,  between  the  base  of 
these  mountains  and  the  Atlantic  ocean,  lies  a  long  ridge  of 
rocks  and  sand,  which  the  sea  appears  to  have  left  behind  as 
it  retired.  The  mean  breadth  of  this  territory  does  not  ex 
ceed  one  hundred  miles  ;  but  it  is  about  nine  hundred  miles 
in  length.  This  part  of  the  American  continent  has  a  soil 
which  offers  every  obstacle  to  the  husbandman,  and  its  vege 
tation  is  scanty  and  unvaried. 

Upon  this  inhospitable  coast  the  first  united  efforts  of  human 
industry  were  made.  This  tongue  of  arid  land  was  the 
cradle  of  those  English  colonies  which  were  destined  one 
day  to  become  the  United  States  of  America.  The  centre 
of  power  still  remains  there  ;  while  in  the  backward  States 
the  true  elements  of  the  great  people,  to  whom  the  future 
control  of  the  continent  belongs,  are  secretly  springing  up. 

When  the  Europeans  first  landed  on  the  shores  of  the  An 
tilles,  and  afterwards  on  tne  coast  of  South  America,  they 
thought  themselves  transported  into  those  fabulous  regions  of 
which  poets  had  sung.  The  sea  sparkled  with  phosphoric 
light,  and  the  extraordinary  transparency  of  its  waters  dis 
covered  to  the  view  of  the  navigator  all  that  had  hitherto 
been  hidden  in  the  deep  abyss.*  Here  and  there  appeared 
little  islands  perfumed  with  odoriferous  plants,  and  resem 
bling  baskets  of  flowers,  floating  on  the  tranquil  surface  of 
the  ocean.  Every  object  which  met  the  sight,  in  this  en 
chanting  region,  seemed  prepared  to  satisfy  the  wants,  or 
contribute  to  the  pleasures  of  man.  Almost  all  the  trees 
were  loaded  with  nourishing  fruits,  and  those  which  were 
useless  as  food,  delighted  the  eye  by  the  brilliancy  and  va 
riety  of  their  colors.  In  groves  of  fragrant  lemon -trees,  wild 
figs,  flowering  myrtles,  acacias,  and  oleanders,  which  were 
hung  with  festoons  of  various  climbing-plants,  covered  with 
flowers,  a  multitude  of  birds  unknown  in  Europe  displayed 
their  bright  plumage,  glittering  with  purple  and  azure,  and 
mingled  their  warbling  in  the  harmony  of  a  world  teeming 
with  life  and  motion. f 

Underneath  this  brilliant  exterior  death  was  concealed. 
The  air  of  these  climates  had  so  enervating  an  influence 

*  Malte  Brim  tells  us  (vol.  v.,  p.  726)  that  the  water  of  the  Carib 
bean  sea  is  so  transparent,  that  corals  and  fish  are  discernible  at  a  depth 
of  sixty  fathoms.  The  ship  seemed  to  float  in  the  air,  the  navigator 
became  giddy  as  his  eye  penetrated  through  the  crystal  flood,  and 
beheld  submarine  gardens,  or  beds  of  shells,  or  gilded  fishes  gliding 
among  tufts  and  thickets  of  seaweed. 

\  See  Appendix  B. 


NORTH    AMERICA.  19 

that  man,  completely  absorbed  by  the  present  enjoyment, 
was  rendered  regardless  of  the  future. 

North  America  appeared  under  a  very  different  aspect ; 
there,  everything  was  grave,  serious,  and  solemn  ;  it  seemed 
created  to  be  the  domain  of  intelligence,  as  the  south  was 
that  of  sensual  delight.  A  turbulent  and  foggy  ocean  wash 
ed  its  shores.  It  was  girded  round  by  a  belt  of  granitic 
rocks,  or  by  wide  plains  of  sand.  The  foliage  of  its  woods 
was  dark  and  gloomy ;  for  they  were  composed  of  firs, 
larches,  evergreen  oaks,  wild  olive-trees,  and  laurels. 

Beyond  this  outer  belt  lay  the  thick  "shades  of  the  central 
forests,  where  the  largest  trees  which  are  produced  in  the 
two  hemispheres  grow  sido  by  side.  The  plane,  the  catalpa, 
the  sugar-maple,  and  the  Virginian  poplar,  mingled  their 
branches  with  those  of  the  oak,  the  beech,  and  the  lime. 

In  these,  as  in  the  forests  of  the  Old  World,  destruction 
was  perpetually  going  on.  The  ruins  of  vegetation  were 
heaped  upon  each  other  ;  but  there  was  no  laboring  hand  to 
remove  them,  and  their  decay  was  not  rapid  enough  to  make 
room  for  the  continual  work  of  reproduction.  Climbing- 
plants,  grasses  and  other  herbs,  forced  their  way  through 
the  moss  of  dying  trees ;  they  crept  along  their  bending 
trunks,  found  nourishment  in  their  dusty  cavities,  and  a  pas 
sage  beneath  the  lifeless  bark.  Thus  decay  gave  its  assist 
ance  to  life,  and  their  respective  productions  were  mingled 
together.  The  depths  of  these  forests  were  gloomy  and  ob 
scure,  and  a  thousand  rivulets,  undirected  in  their  course  by 
human  industry,  preserved  in  them  a  constant  moisture.  It 
was  rare  to  meet  with  flowers,  wild  fruits,  or  birds,  beneath 
their  shades.  The  fall  of  a  tree  overthrown  by  age,  the 
rushing  torrent  of  a  cataract,  the  lowing  of  the  buffalo,  and 
the  howling  of  the  wind,  were  the  only  sounds  which  broke 
the  silence  of  nature. 

To  the  east  of  the  great  river  the  woods  almost  disap 
peared  ;  in  their  stead  were  seen  prairies  of  immense  ex 
tent.  Whether  nature  in  her  infinite  variety  had  denied  the 
germes  of  trees  to  these  fertile  plains,  or  whether  they  had 
once  been  covered  with  forests,  subsequently  destroyed  by 
the  hand  of  man,  is  a  question  which  neither  tradition  nor 
scientific  research  has  been  able  to  resolve. 

These  immense  deserts  were  not,  however,  devoid  of  hu 
man  inhabitants.  Some  wandering  tribes  had  been  for  ages 
scattered  among  the  forest  shades  or  the  green  pastures  of 
the  prairie.  From  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the 
Delta  of  the  Mississippi,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 


20  EXTERIOR    FORM    OF 

ocean,  these  savages  possessed  certain  points  of  resemblance 
which  bore  witness  of  their  common  origin :  but  at  the  same 
time  they  differed  from  all  other  known  races  of  men  :*  they 
were  neither  white  like  the  Europeans,  nor  yellow  like  most 
of  the  Asiatics,  nor  black  like  the  negroes.  Their  skin  was 
reddish  brown,  their  hair  long  and  shining,  their  lips  thin, 
and  their  cheek-bones  very  prominent.  The  languages 
spoken  by  the  North  American  tribes  were  various  as  far  as 
regarded  their  words,  but  they  were  subject  to  the  same 
grammatical  rules.  Those  rules  differed  in  several  points 
from  such  as  had  been  observed  to  govern  the  origin  of 
language. 

1  The  idiom  of  the  Americans  seemed  to  be  the  product  of 
new  combinations,  and  bespoke  an  effort  of  the  understand 
ing,  of  which  the  Indians  of  our  days  would  be  incapable. f 

The  social  state  of  these  tribes  differed  also  in  many  re 
spects  from  all  that  was  seen  in  the  Old  World.  They  seemed 
to  have  multiplied  freely  in  the  midst  of  their  deserts,  with 
out  coming  in  contact  with  other  races  more  civilized  than 
their  own. 

Accordingly,  they  exhibited  none  of  those  indistinct,  in 
coherent  notions  of  right  and  wrong,  none  of  that  deep  cor 
ruption  of  manners  that  is  usually  joined  with  ignorance  and 
rudeness  among  nations  which,  after  advancing  to  civilisa 
tion,  have  relapsed  into  a  state  of  barbarism.  The  Indian 
was  indebted  to  no  one  but  himself;  his  virtues,  his  vices, 
and  his  prejudices,  were  his  own  work ;  he  had  grown  up  in 
the  wild  independence  of  his  nature. 

If,  in  polished  countries,  the  lowest  of  the  people  are  rude 
and  uncivil,  it  is  not  merely  because  they  are  poor  and  ig 
norant,  but  that,  being  so,  they  are  in  daily  contact  with  rich 
and  enlightened  men.  The  sight  of  their  own  hard  lot  and 
of  their  weakness,  which  are  daily  contrasted  with  the  hap 
piness  and  power  of  some  of  their  fellow  creatures,  excites 

*  With  the  progress  of  discovery,  some  resemblance  has  been  found 
to  exist  between  the  physical  conformation,  the  language,  and  the 
habits  of  the  Indians  of  North  America,  and  those  of  the  Tongous, 
Mantchous,  Moguls,  Tartars,  and  other  wandering  tribes  of  Asia. 
The  land  occupied  by  these  tribes  is  not  very  distant  from  Behring's 
strait;  which  allows  of  the  supposition,  that  at  a  remote  period  they 
gave  inhabitants  to  the  desert  continent  of  America.  But  this  is  a 
point  which  has  not  yet  been  clearly  elucidated  by  science.  See 
Malte  Brun,  vol.  v. ;  the  works  of  Humboldt ;  Fischer,  "  Conjecture 
su-  1'Origine  des  Americains  ;"  Adair,  "  History  of  the  American 
Indians." 

f  See  Appendix  C. 


NORTH   AMERICA.  21 

in  their  hearts  at  the  same  time  the  sentiments  of  anger  and 
of  fear :  the  consciousness  of  their  inferiority  and  of  their 
dependence  irritates  while  it  humiliates  them.  This  state 
of  mind  displays  itself  in  their  manners  and  language ; 
they  are  at  once  insolent  and  servile.  The  truth  of  this  is 
easily  proved  by  observation ;  the  people  are  more  rude  in 
aristocratic  cquntries  than  elsewhere  ;  in  opulent  cities  than 
in  rural  districts.  In  those  places  where  the  rich  and  power 
ful  are  assembled  together,  the  weak  and  the  indigent  feel 
themselves  oppressed  by  their  inferior  condition.  Unable  to 
perceive  a  single  chance  of  regaining  their  equality,  they 
give  up  to  despair,  and  allow  themselves  to  fall  below  the 
dignity  of  human  nature. 

This  unfortunate  effect  of  the  disparity  of  conditions  is 
not  observable  in  savage  life ;  the  Indians,  although  they 
are  ignorant  and  poor,  are  equal  and  free. 

At  the  period  when  Europeans  first  came  among  them, 
the  natives  of  North  America  were  ignorant  of  the  value 
of  riches,  and  indifferent  to  the  enjoyments  which  civilized 
man  procures  to  himself  by  their  means.  Nevertheless 
there  was  nothing  coarse  in  their  demeanor  ;  they  practised 
an  habitual  reserve,  and  a  kind  of  aristocratic  politeness. 

Mild  and  hospitable  when  at  peace,  though  merciless  in 
war  beyond  any  known  degree  of  human  ferocity,  the  In 
dian  would  expose  himself  to  die  of  hunger  in  order  to  sue- 
cor  the  stranger  who  asked  admittance  by  night  at  the  dooi 
of  his  hut — yet  he  could  tear  in  pieces  with  his  hands  the 
still  quivering  limbs  of  his  prisoner.  The  famous  republics 
of  antiquity  never  gave  examples  of  more  unshaken  cou 
rage,  more  haughty  spirits,  or  more  intractable  love  of  inde 
pendence,  than  were  hidden  in  former  times  among  the  wild 
forests  of  the  New  World.*  The  Europeans  produced  no 
great  impression  when  they  landed  upon  the  shores  of  North 
America  :  their  presence  engendered  neither  envy  nor  fear. 
What  influence  could  they  possess  over  such  men  as  we 
have  described  ?  The  Indian  could  live  without  wants,  suf 
fer  without  complaint,  and  pour  out  his  death-song  at  the 

*  We  learn  from  President  Jefferson's  "  Notes  upon  Virginia,"  p. 
148,  that  among  the  Iroquois,  when  attacked  by  a  superior  force,  aged 
men  refused  to  fly,  or  to  survive  the  destruction  of  their  country ; 
and  they  braved  death  like  the  ancient  Romans  when  their  capital 
was  sacked  by  the  Gauls.  Further  on,  p.  150,  he  tells  us,  that  there 
is  no  example  of  an  Indian,  who,  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  his 
enemies,  begged  for  his  life ;  on  the  contrary,  the  captive  sought  to 
obtain  death  at  the  hands  of  his  conquerors  by  the  use  of  insult  and 
provocation. 


22  EXTERIOR    FORM    OF 

stake.*  Like  all  the  other  members  of  the  great  human 
family,  these  savages  believed  in  the  existence  of  a  better 
world,  and  adored,  under  different  names,  God,  the  Creator 
of  the  universe.  Their  notions  on  the  great  intellectual 
truths  were,  in  general,  simple  and  philosophical. f 

Although  we  have  here  traced  the  character  of  a  primi 
tive  people,  yet  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  another  people, 
more  civilized  and  more  advanced  in  all  respects,  had  pre 
ceded  it  in  the  same  regions. 

An  obscure  tradition,  which  prevailed  among  the  Indians 
to  the  north  of  the  Atlantic,  informs  us  that  these  very  tribes 
formerly  dwelt  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi.  Along 
tfce  banks  of  the  Ohio,  and  throughout  the  central  valley, 
there  are  frequently  found,  at  this  day,  tumuli  raised  by  the 
hands  of  men.  On  exploring  these  heaps  of  earth  to  their 
centre,  it  is  usual  to  meet  with  human  bones,  strange  instru 
ments,  arms  and  utensils  of  all  kinds,  made  of  a  metal,  or 
destined  for  purposes,  unknown  to  the  present  race. 

The  Indians  of  our  time  ar.e  unable  to  give  any  informa 
tion  relative  to  the  history  of  this  unknown  people.  Neither 
did  those  who  lived  three  hundred  years  ago,  when  America 
was  first  discovered,  leave  any  accounts  from  which  even 
an  hypothesis  could  be  formed.  Tradition — that  perishable, 
yet  ever-renewed  monument  of  the  pristine  world — throws 
no  light  upon  the  subject.  It  is  an  undoubted  fact,  however, 
that  in  this  part  of  the  globe  thousands  of  our  fellow-beings 
had  lived.  When  they  came  hither,  what  was  their  origin, 
their  destiny,  their  history,  and  how  they  perished,  no  one 
can  tell. 

How  strange  does  it  appear  that  nations  have  existed,  and 
afterward  so  completely  disappeared  from  the  earth,  that  the 
remembrance  of  their  very  name  is  effaced  :  their  languages 
are  lost ;  their  glory  is  vanished  like  a  sound  without  an  echo ; 
but  perhaps  there  is  not  one  which  has  not  left  behind  it  a 
tomb  in  memory  of  its  passage.  The  most  durable  monu 
ment  of  human  labor  is  that  which  recalls  the  wretchedness 
and  nothingness  of  man. 

Although  the  vast  country  which  we  have  been  describing 

. 

*  See  "  Histoire  de  la  Louisiana,"  by  Lepage  Dupratz  ;  Charlevoix, 
"  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France ;"  "  Lettres  du  Rev.  G.  Hecwelder ;" 
"  Transactions  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,"  v.  i. ;  Jeffer 
son's  "Notes  on  Virginia,"  pp.  13o-l90.  What  is  said  by  Jefferson 
is  of  especial  weight,  on  account  of  the  personal  merit  of  the  writer, 
and  of  the  matter-of-fact  age  in  which  he  lived. 

f  See  Appendix  D. 


NORTH    AMERICA.  23 

was  inhabited  by  many  indigenous  tribes,  it  may  justly  be 
said,  at  the  time  of  its  discovery  by  Europeans,  to  have  form 
ed  one  great  desert.  The  Indians  occupied,  without  possess 
ing  it.  It  is  by  agricultural  labor  that  man  appropriates  the 
soil,  and  the  early  inhabitants  of  North  America  lived  by  the 
produce  of  the  chase.  Their  implacable  prejudices,  their 
uncontrolled  passions,  their  vices,  and  still  more,  perhaps, 
their  savage  virtues,  consigned  them  to  inevitable  destruc 
tion.  The  ruin  of  these  nations  began  from  the  day  when 
Europeans  landed  on  their  shores :  it  has  proceeded  ever 
since,  and  we  are  now  seeing  the  completion  of  it.  They  seem 
ed  to  have  been  placed  by  Providence  amid  the  riches  of  the 
New  World  to  enjoy  them  for  a  season,  and  then  surrender 
them.  Those  coasts,  so  admirably  adapted  for  commerce 
and  industry  ;  those  wide  and  deep  rivers  ;  that  inexhaustible 
valley  of  the  Mississippi ;  the  whole  continent,  in  short, 
seemed  prepared  to  be  the  abode  of  a  great  nation,  yet 
unborn. 

In  that  land  the  great  experiment  was  to  be  made  by  civil 
ized  man,  of  the  attempt  to  construct  society  upon  a  new 
basis ;  and  it  was  there,  for  the  first  time,  that  theories  hith 
erto  unknown,  or  deemed  impracticable,  were  to  exhibit  a 
spectacle  for  which  the  world  had  not  been  prepared  by  the 
history  of  the  past. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS     AND     ITS     IMPORTANCE,    IN 
RELATION    TO    THEIR    FUTURE    CONDITION. 

Utility  of  knowing  the  Origin  of  Nations  in  order  to  understand  their 
social  Condition  and  their  Laws. — America  the  only  Country  in 
which  the  Starting-Point  of  a  great  People  lias  been  clearly  observa 
ble. — In  what  respects  all  who  emigrated  to  British  America  were 
similar. — In  what  they  differed. — Remark  applicable  to  all  the  Euro 
peans  who  established  themselves  on  the  shores  of  the  New  World. 
— Colonization  of  Virginia. — Colonization  of  New  England. — Origi 
nal  Character  of  the  first  inhabitants  of  New  England. — Their  Arri 
val. — Their  first  Laws. — Their  social  Contract. — Penal  Code  borrow 
ed  from  the  Hebrew  Legislation. — Religious  Fervor. — Republican 
Spirit. — Intimate  Union  of  the  Spirit  of  Religion  with  the  Spirit  of 
Liberty. 

AFTER  the  birth  of  a  human  being,  his  early  years  are  ob 
scurely  spent  in  the  toils  or  pleasures  of  child !:oo:L      As  he 


24  ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

grows  up,  the  world  receives  him,  when  his  manhood  begins, 
and  he  enters  into  contact  with  his  fellows.  He  is  then 
studied  for  the  first  time,  and  it  is  imagined  that  the  germe  of 
the  vices  and  the  virtues  of  his  maturer  years  is  then  formed. 

This,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  is  a  great  error.  We  must 
begin  higher  up ;  we  must  watch  the  infant  in  his  mother's 
arms ;  we  must  see  the  first  images  which  the  external  world 
casts  upon  the  dark  mirror  of  his  mind  ;  the  first  occurrences 
which  he  beholds  ;  we  must  hear  the  first  words  which 
awaken  the  sleeping  powers  of  thought,  and  stand  by  his 
earliest  efforts,  if  we  would  understand  the  prejudices,  the 
habits,  and  the  passions,  which  will  rule  his  life.  The  entire 
man  is,  so  to  speak,  to  be  seen  in  the  cradle  of  the  child. 

The  growth  of  nations  presents  something  analogous  to 
this ;  they  all  bear  some  marks  of  their  origin ;  and  the  cir 
cumstances  which  accompanied  their  birth  and  contributed  to 
their  rise,  affect  the  whole  term  of  their  being. 

If  we  were  able  to  go  back  to  the  elements  of  states,  and 
to  examine  the  oldest  monuments  of  their  history,  I  doubt  not 
that  we  should  discover  the  primary  cause  of  the  prejudices, 
the  habits,  the  ruling  passions,  and  in  short  of  all  that  consti 
tutes  what  is  called  the  national  character :  we  should  then 
find  the  explanation  of  certain  customs  which  now  seem  at 
variance  with  prevailing  manners,  of  such  laws  as  conflict 
with  established  principles,  and  of  such  incoherent  opinions 
as  are  here  and  there  to  be  met  with  in  society,  like  those 
fragments  of  broken  chains  which  we  sometimes  see  hanging 
from  the  vault  of  an  edifice,  and  supporting  nothing.  This 
might  explain  the  destinies  of  certain  nations  which  seem 
borne  along  by  an  unknown  force  to  ends  of  which  they 
themselves  are  ignorant.  But  hitherto  facts  have  been  want 
ing  to  researches  of  this  kind  :  the  spirit  of  inquiry  has  only 
come  upon  communities  in  their  latter  days ;  and  when  they 
at  length  turned  their  attention  to  contemplate  their  origin, 
time  had  already  obscured  it,  or  ignorance  and  pride  adorned 
it  with  truth-concealing  fables. 

America  is  the  only  country  in  which  it  has  been  possible 
to  study  the  natural  and  tranquil  growth  of  society,  and 
where  the  influence  exercised  on  the  future  condition  of 
states  by  their  origin  is  clearly  distinguishable. 

At  the  period  when  the  people  of  Europe  landed  in  the 
New  World,  their  national  characteristics  were  already 
completely  formed ;  each  of  them  had  a  physiognomy  of  its- 
own  ;  and  as  they  had  already  attained  that  stage  of  civilisa 
tion  at  which  men  are  led  to  study  themselves,  they  havo 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  "25 

transmitted  to  us  a  faithful  picture  of  their  opinions,  their 
manners,  and  their  laws.  The  men  of  the  sixteenth  century 
are  almost  as  well  known  to  us  as  our  contemporaries.  Ame 
rica  consequently  exhibits  in  the  broad  light  of  day  the  phe 
nomena  which  the  ignorance  or  rudeness  of  earlier  ages  con 
ceals  from  our  researches.  Near  enough  to  the  time  when 
the  states  of  America  were  founded  to  be  accurately  acquaint 
ed  with  their  elements,  and  sufficiently  removed  from  that 
period  to  judge  of  some  of  their  results.  The  men  of  our 
OWTT day  seem  destined  to  see  farther  than  their  predecessors 
into  the  series  of  human  events.  Providence  has  given  us  a 
torch  which  our  forefathers  did  not  possess,  and  has  allowed 
us  to  discern  fundamental  causes  in  the  history  of  the  world 
which  the  obscurity  of  the  past  concealed  from  them. 

If  we  carefully  examine  the  social  and  political  state  of 
America,  after  having  studied  its  history,  we  shall  remain 
perfectly  convinced  that  not  an  opinion,  not  a  custom,  not  a 
law,  I  may  even  say  not  an  event,  is  upon  record  which  the 
origin^ of  that... peop]e__\yijl  not  explain.  The  readers  of  this 
book  will  find  the  germe  of  all  that  is  to  follow  in  the  present 
chapter,  and  the  key  to  almost  the  whole  work. 

The  emigrants  who  came  at  different  periods  to  occupy  the 
territory  now  covered  by  the  American  Union,  differed  from 
each  c^eMnjTiany  respects  ;  their  aim  was  noTThe  same, 
ancTthey  governed  themselves  on  different  principles. 

These  men  had,  however,  certain  features  in  common,  and 
they  were  all  placed  in  an  analogous  situation.  The  tie  of 
language  is  perhaps  the  strongest  and  most  durable  that  can 
unite  mankind.  All  the  emigrants  spoke  the  same  tongue  ; 
they  were  all  offsets  from  the  same  people.  Born  in  a  coun 
try  which  had  been  agitated  for  centuries  by  the  struggles  of 
faction,  and  in  which  all  parties  had  been  obliged  in  their  turn 
to  place  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  laws, 
their  political  education  had  been  perfected  in  this  rude 
school,  and  they  were  more  conversant  with  the  notions  of 
right,  and  the  principles  of  true  freedom,  than  the  greater 
part  of  their  European  contemporaries.  At  the  period  of  the 
first  emigrations,  the  parish  system,  that  fruitful  gerine  of  free 
institutions,  was  deeply  rooted  in  the  habits  of  the  English  : 
and  with  it  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  had 
been  introduced  even  into  ther  bosom  of  the  monarchy  of  the 
house  of  Tudor. 

The  religious  quarrels  which  have  agitated  the  Christian 
world  were  then  rife.  England  had  plunged  into  the  new 
order  of  things  with  headlong  vehemence.  The  character  of 


II  .  •"" 

26  ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

its  inhabitants,  which  had  always  been  sedate  and  reflecting, 
became  argumentative  and  austere.  General  information  had 
been  increased  by  intellectual  debate,  and  the  mind  had  re 
ceived  a  deeper  cultivation.  While  religion  was  the  topic  of 
discussion,  the  morals  of  the  people  were  reformed.  All  these 
national  features  are  more  or  less  discoverable  in  the  phisiog- 
nomy  of  those  adventurers  who  came  to  seek  a  new  home  on 
the  opposite  shores  of  the  Atlantic. 

Another  remark,  to  which  we  shall  hereafter  have  occasion 
to  recur,  is  applicable  not  only  to  the  English,  but  to  the 
French,  the  Spaniards,  and  all  the  Europeans  who  succes 
sively  established  themselves  in  the  New  World.  All  these 
'European  .colonies  contained  the  elements,  if  not  the  develop 
ment  of  a  complete  democracy.  Two  causes  led  to  this  re 
sult.  It  may  safely  be  advanced,  that  on  leaving  the  mother- 
country  the  emigrants  had  in  general  no  notion. of  superiority 
over  one  another.  The  happy  and  the  powerful  do  not  go 
into  exile,  and  there  are  no  surer  guarantees  of  equality 
among  men  than  poverty  and  misfortune.  It  happened,  how 
ever,  on  several  occasions  that  persons  of  rank  were  driven 
to  America  by  political  and  religious  quarrels.  Laws  were 
made  to  establish  a  gradation  of  ranks  ;  but  it  was  soon 
found  that  the  soil  of  America  was  entirely  opposed  to  a  ter 
ritorial  aristocracy.  To  bring  that  refractory  land  into  cul 
tivation,  the  constant  and  interested  exertions  of  the  owner 
himself  were  necessary  ;  and  when  the  ground  was  prepared, 
its  produce  was  found  to  be  insufficient  to  enrich  a  master  and 
a  farmer  at  the  same  time.  The  land  was  then  naturally 
broken  up  into  small  portions,  which  the  proprietor  cultivated 
for  himself.  Land  is  the  basis  of  an  aristocracy,  which 
clings  to  the  soil  that  supports  it ;  for  it  is  not  by  privileges 
alone,  nor  by  birth,  but  by  landed  property  handed  down  from 
generation  to  generation,  that  an  aristocracy  is  constituted. 
A  nation  may  present  immense  fortunes  and  extreme  wretch 
edness  ;  but  unless  those  fortunes  are  territorial,  there  is  no 
,  aristocracy,  but  simply  the  class  of  the  rich  and  that  of  the 
poor. 

All  the  British  colonies  had  then  a  great  degree  of  simi 
larity  at  the  epoch  of  their  settlement.  All  of  them,  from 
their  first  beginning,  seemed  destined  to  behold  the  growth, 
not  of  the  aristocratic  liberty  of  their  mother-country,  but  of 
that  freedom  of  the  middle  and  lower  orders  of  which  the 
history  of  the  world  has  as  yet  furnished  no  complete  ex 
ample. 

In  this  general  uniformity  several  striking  differences  were 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  27 

however  discernible,  which  it  is  necessary  to  point  out.  Two 
branches  may  be  distinguished  in  the  Anglo-American  family, 
which  have  hitherto  grown  up  without  entirely  commingling  ; 
the  one  in  the  south,  the  other  in  the  north. 

Virginia  received  the  first  English  colony  ;  the  emigrants 
took  possession  of  it  in  1607.  The  idea  that  mines  of  gold 
and  silver  are  the  sources  of  national  wealth,  was  at  that  time 
singularly  prevalent  in  Europe  ;  a  fatal  delusion,  which  has 
done  more  to  impoverish  the  nations  which  adopted  it,  and 
has  cost  more  lives  in  America,  than  the  united  influence  of 
war  and  bad  laws.  The  men  sent  to  Virginia*  were  seekers 
of  gold,  adventurers  without  resources  and  without  charac 
ter,  whose  turbulent  and  restless  spirits  endangered  the 
infant  colony,f  and  rendered  its  progress  uncertain.  The 
artisans  and  agriculturists  arrived  afterward  ;  and  although 
they  were  a  more  moral  and  orderly  race  of  men,  they  were 
in  nowise  above  the  level  of  the  inferior  classes  in  England.^ 
No  lofty  conceptions,  no  intellectual  system  directed  the 
foundation  of  these  new  settlements.  The  colony  was 
scarcely  established  when  slavery  was  introduced,  §  ancT  tTifs 
was  the  mam  c^rcujnstahcejyliicTi  has  exercised  so  prodigious 
an  mriuence~~6n  the  character,  the  laws,  and  all  the  future 


Slavery,  as  we  shall  afterward  show,  dishonors  labor  ;  it 
introduces  idleness  into  society,  and,  with  idleness,  ignorance 
and  pride,  luxury  and  distress.  It  enervates  the  powers  of 
the  mind,  and  benumbs  the  activity  of  man.  The  influence 

*  The  charter  granted  by  the  crown  of  England,  in  1609,  stipulated, 
among  other  conditions,  that  the  adventurers  should  pay  to  the  crown 
a  fifth  of  the  produce  of  all  gold  and  silver  mines.  See  Marshall's 
"  Life  of  Washington,"  vol  i.,  pp.  18-66. 

f  A  large  portion  of  the  adventurers,  says  Stith  (History  of  Vir 
ginia),  were  unprincipled  young  men  of  family,  whom  their  parents 
were  glad  to  ship  off,  discharged  servants,  fraudulent  bankrupts,  or 
debauchees  :  and  others  of  the  same  class,  people  more  apt  to  pillage 
and  destroy  than  to  assist  the  settlement,  were  the  seditious  chiefs  who 
easily  led  this  band  into  every  kind  of  extravagance  and  excess.  See 
for  the  history  of  Virginia  the  following  works  :  — 

"  History  of  Virginia,  from  the  first  Settlements  in  the  year  1624," 
by  Smith. 

"  History  of  Virginia,"  by  William  Stith. 

"  History  of  Virginia,  from  the  earliest  Period,"  by  Beverley. 

t  It  was  not  till  some  time  later  that  a  certain  number  of  rich  Eng 
lish  capitalists  came  to  fix  themselves  in  the  colony. 

§  Slavery  was  introduced  about  the  year  1620,  by  a  Dutch  vessel, 
which  landed  twenty  negroes  on  the  banks  of  the  river  James.  See 
Chalmer. 


28  ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

of  slavery,  united  to  the  English  character,  explains  the 
mariners  and  the  social  condition  of  the  southern_states. 

In  the  north,  the  same  English  foundation  was  modified  by 
the  most  opposite  shades  of  character ;  and  here  I  may  be 
allowed  to  enter  into  some  details.  The  two  or  three  main 
ideas  which  constitute  the  basis  of  the  social  theory  of  the 
United  States,  were  first  combined  in  the  northern  British 
colonies,  more  generally  denominated  the  states  of  New 
England.*  The  principles  of  New  England  spread  at  first 
to  the  neighboring  states ;  they  then  passed  successively  to 
the  more  distant  ones  ;  and  at  length  they  embued  the  whole 
confederation.  They  now  extend  their  influence  beyond  its 
'limits  over  the  whole  American  world.  The  civilisation  of 
New  England  has  been  like  a  beacon  lit  upon  a  hill,  which, 
after  it  has  diffused  its  warmth  around,  tinges  the  distant 
horizon  with  its  glow. 

The  foundation  of  New  England  was  a  novel  spectacle, 
and  all  the  circumstances  attending  it  were  singular  and 
original.  The  large  majority  of  colonies  have  been  first  in 
habited  either  by  men  without  education  and  without  resources, 
driven  by  their  poverty  and  their  misconduct  from  the  land 
which  gave  them  birth,  or  by  speculators  and  adventurers 
greedy  of  gain.  Some  settlements  cannot  even  boast  so 
honorable  an  origin  :  St.  Domingo  was  founded  by  bucca 
neers  ;  and,  at  the  present  day,  the  criminal  courts  of  Eng 
land  supply  the  population  of  Australia. 

The  settlers  who  established  themselves  on  the  shores  of 
New  England  all  belonged  to  the  more  independent  classes 
of  their  native  country.  Their  union  on  the  soil  of  America 
at  once  presented  the  singular  phenomenon  of  a  society  con 
taining  neither  lords  nor  common  people,  neither  rich  nor  poor. 
These  men  possessed,  in  proportion  to  their  number,  a  greater 
mass  of  intelligence  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  European 
nation  of  our  own  time.  All,  without  a  single  exception,  had 
received  a  good  education,  and  many  of  them  were  known  in 
Europe  for  their  talents  and  their  acquirements.  The  other 
colonies  had  been  founded  by  adventurers  without  family; 
the  emigrants  of  New  England  brought  with  them  the  best 
elements  of  order  and  morality,  they  landed  in  the  desert 
accompanied  by  their  wives  and  children.  But  what  most 
especially  distinguished  them  was  the  aim  of  their  under- 


*  The  states  of  New  England  are  those  situntea  to  the  east  of  the 
Hudson;  they  are  now  six  in  number:  1.  Connecticut;  2.  Rhode 
Island ;  3.  Massachusetts  ;  4.  Vermont;  5.  New  Hampshire ;  6.  Maine. 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  29 

taking.  They  had  not  been  obliged  by  necessity  to  leave 
their  country,  the  social  position  they  abandoned  was  one  to 
be  regretted,  and  their  means  of  subsistence  were  certain. 
Nor  did  they  cross  the  Atlantic  to  improve  their  situation,  or 
to  increase  their  wealth  ;  the  call  which  summoned  them 
from  the  comforts  of  their  homes  was  purely  intellectual ; 
and  in  facing  the  inevitable  sufferings  of  exile,  their  object 
was  the  triumph  of  an  idea. 

The  emigrants,  or,  as  they  deservedly  styled  themselves, 
the  pilgrims,  belonged  to  that  English  sect,  the  austerity  of 
whose  principles  had  acquired  for  them  the  name  of  puritans. 
Puritanism  was  not  merely  a  religious  doctrine,  but  it  cor 
responded  in  many  points  with  the  most  absolute  democratic 
and  republican  theories.  It  was  this  tendency  which  had 
aroused  its  most  dangerous  adversaries.  Persecuted  by  the 
government  of  the  mother-country,  and  disgusted  by  the 
habits  of  a  society  opposed  to  the  rigor  of  their  own  princi 
ples,  the  puritans  went  forth  to  seek  some  rude  and  unfre 
quented  part  of  the  world,  where  they  could  live  according 
to  their  own  opinions,  and  worship  God  in  freedom. 

A  few  quotations  will  throw  more  light  upon  the  spirit  of 
these  pious  adventurers  than  all  we  can  say  of  them. 
Nathaniel  Morton,*  the  historian  of  the  first  years  of  the  set 
tlement,  thus  opens  his  subject : — 

"  GENTLE  READER  :  I  have  for  some  length  of  time  looked 
upon  it  as  a  duty  incumbent,  especially  on  the  immediate 
successors  of  those  that  have  had  so  large  experience  of  those 
many  memorable  and  signal  demonstrations  of  God's  good 
ness,  viz.,  the  first  beginning  of  this  plantation  in  New  Eng 
land,  to  commit  to  writing  his  gracious  dispensations  on  that 
behalf;  having  so  many  inducements  thereunto,  not  only 
otherwise,  but  so  plentifully  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures  :  that  so, 
what  we  have  seen,  and  what  our  fathers  have  told  us  (Psalm 
Ixxviii.,  3,  4),  we  may  not  hide  from  our  children,  showing 
to  the  generations  to  come  the  praises  of  the  Lord  ;  that 
especially  the  seed  of  Abraham  his  servant,  .and  the  children 
of  Jacob  his  chosen  (Psalm  cv.,  5,  6),  may  remember  his 
marvellous  works  in  the  beginning  and  progress  of  the  plant 
ing  of  New  England,  his  wonders  and  the  judgments  of  his 
mouth ;  how  that  God  brought  a  vine  into  this  wilderness ; 
that  he  cast  out  the  heathen  and  planted  it ;  that  he  made 


*"New   England's  Memorial,"   p.  13.     Boston, 
"  Hutchinson's  History,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  440. 


1S26.       See   also 


30  ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

room  for  it,  and  caused  it  to  take  deep  root ;  and  it  filled  the 
land  (Psalm  Ixxx.,  8,  9).  And  not  onely  so,  but  also  that 
he  hath  guided  his  people  by  his  strength  to  his  holy  habita 
tion,  and  planted  them  in  the  mountain  of  his  inheritance  in 
respect  of  precious  gospel  enjoyments :  and  that  as  especially 
God  may  have  the  glory  of  all  unto  whom  it  is  most  due ;  so 
also  some  rays  of  glory  may  reach  the  names  of  those  blessed 
saints,  that  were  the  main  instruments  and  the  beginning  of 
this  happy  enterprise." 

It  is  impossible  to  read  this  opening  paragraph  without  an 
involuntary  feeling  of  religious  awe ;  it  breathes  the  very 
•savor  of  gospel  antiquity.  The  sincerity  of  the  author 
heightens  his  power  of  language.  The  band,  which  to  his 
eyes  was  a  mere  party  of  adventurers,  gone  forth  to  seek 
their  fortune  beyond  the  seas,  appears  to  the  reader  as  the 
germe  of  a  great  nation  wafted  by  Providence  to  a  predestined 
shore. 

The  author  thus  continues  his  narrative  of  the  departure  of 
the  first  pilgrims  : —  > 

"So  they  left  that  goodly  and  pleasant  city  of  Leyden, 
which  had  been  their  resting-place  for  above  eleven  years ; 
but  they  knew  that  they  were  pilgrims  and  strangers  here 
below,  and  looked  not  much  on  these  things,  but  lifted  up 
their  eyes  to  Heaven,  their  dearest  country,  where  God  hath 
prepared  for  them  a  city  (Heb.  xi.,  16),  and  therein  quieted 
their  spirits.  When  they  came  to  Delfs-Haven  they  foimd 
the  ship  and  all  things  ready  ;  and  such  of  their  friends  as 
could  come  with  them,  followed  after  them,  and  sundry  came 
from  Amsterdam  to  see  them  shipt,  and  to  take  their  leaves 
of  them.  One  night  was  spent  with  little  sleep  with  the  most, 
but  with  friendly  entertainment  and  Christian  discourse,  and 
other  real  expressions  of  true  Christian  love.  The  next  day 
they  went  on  board,  and  their  friends  with  them,  where  truly 
doleful  was  the  sight  of  that  sad  and  mournful  parting,  to 
hear  what  sighs  and  sobs  and  prayers  did  sound  among 
them  ;  what  tears  did  gush  from  every  eye,  and  pithy  speeches 
pierced  each  other's  heart,  that  sundry  of  the  Dutch  strangers 
that  stood  on  the  key  as  spectators  could  not  refrain  from 
tears.  But  the  tide  (which  stays  for  no  man)  calling  them 
away  that  were  thus  loath  to  depart,  their  reverend  pastor 
falling  down  on  his  knees,  and  they  all  with  him,  with  wa 
tery  cheeks  commended  them  with  most  fervent  prayers  unto 
the  Lord  and  his  blessing ;  and  then,  with  mutual  embraces 


.*.ND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  3) 

arid  many  tears,  they  took  their  leaves  one  of  another,  which 
proved  to  be  the  last  leave  to  many  of  them." 

The  emigrants  were  about  150  in  number,  including  the 
women  and  the  children.  Their  object  was  to  plant  a  colony 
on  the  shores  of  the  Hudson  ;  but  after  having  been  driven 
about  for  some  time  in  the  Atlantic  ocean,  they  were  forced 
to  land  on  that  arid  coast  of  New  England  which  is  now  the 
site  of  the  town  of  Plymouth.  The  rock  is  still  shown  on 
which  the  pilgrims  disembarked.* 

"  But  before  we  pass  on,"  continues  our  historian,  "  let  the 
reader  with  me  make  a  pause,  and  seriously  consider  this 
poor  people's  present  condition,  the  more  to  be  raised  up  to 
admiration  of  God's  goodness  toward  them  in  their  preserva 
tion  :  for  being  now  passed  the  vast  ocean,  and  a  sea  of  trou 
bles  before  them  in  expectation,  they  had  now  no  friends  to 
welcome  them,  no  inns  to  entertain  or  refresh  them,  nc 
houses,  or  much  less  towns  to  repair  unto  to  seek  for  suc 
cor  ;  and  for  the  season  it  was  winter,  and  they  that  know 
the  winters  of  the  country  know  them  to  be  sharp  and  vio 
lent,  subject  to  cruel  and  fierce  storms,  dangerous  to  travel 
to  known  places,  much  more  to  search  unknown  coasts.  Be 
sides,  what  could  they  see  but  a  hideous  and  desolate  wilder 
ness,  full  of  wilde  beasts,  and  wilde  men  ?  and  what  multi 
tudes  of  them  there  were,  they  then  knew  not :  for  which  way 
soever  they  turned  their  eyes  (save  upward  to  Heaven)  they 
could  have  but  litile  solace  or  content  in  respect  of  any  out 
ward  object ;  for  summer  being  ended,  all  things  stand  in 
appearance  with  a  weather-beaten  face,  and  the  whole 
country  full  of  woods  and  thickets  represented  a  wild  and 
savage  hue  ;  if  they  looked  behind  them,  there  was  the 
mighty  ocean  which  they  had  passed,  and  was  now  as  a  main 
bar  or  gulph  to  separate  them  from  all  the  civil  parts  of  the 
world." 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  piety  of  the  puritans  was 
of  a  merely  speculative  kind,  or  that  it  took  no  cognizance 
of  the  course  of  worldly  affairs.  Puritanism,  as  I  have 

IJ 

*  Ttiis  rock  is  become  an  object  of  veneration  in  the  United  States. 
T  have  seen  bits  of  it  carefully  preserved  in  several  towns  of  the  Union. 
Does  not  this  sufficiently  show  that  all  human  power  and  greatness  is 
in  the  soul  of  man  ?  Here  is  a  stone  which  the  feet  of  a  few  outcasts 
pressed  for  an  instant,  and  this  stone  becomes  famous ;  it  is  treasured 
by  a  great  nation,  its  very  dust  is  shared  as  a  relic ;  and  what  is  become 
of  the  gateways  of  a  thousand  palaces  ? 


32  ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

already  remarked,  was  scarcely  less  a  political  than  a  reli 
gious  doctrine.  No  sooner  had  the  emigrants  landed  on  the 
barren  coast,  described  by  Nathaniel  Morton,  than  their  first 
care  was  to  'constitute  a  society,  by  passing  the  following 
act  :*— 

"  IN  THE  NAME  OF  GOD,  AMEN  !  We,  whose  names  are 
underwritten,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign  lord 
King  James,  &c.,  &c.,  having  undertaken  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  the  honor 
of  our  king  and  country,  a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in 
the  northern  parts  of  Virginia  :  do  by  these  presents  solemnly 
and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  one  another,  cove 
nant  and  combine  ourselves  together  into  a  civil  body  politic, 
for  our  better  ordering  and  preservation,  and  furtherance  of 
the  ends  aforesaid  :  and  by  virtue  hereof  do  enact,  consti 
tute,  and  frame,  such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts, 
constitutions,  and  officers,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be 
thought  most  meet  and  convenient  for  the  general  good  of  the 
colony  :  unto  which  we  promise  all  due  submission  and 
obedience,"  &c.f 

This  happened  in  1620,  and  from  that  time  forward  the 
emigration  went  on.  The  religious  and  political  passions 
which  ravished  the  British  empire  during  the  whole  reign  of 
Charles  I.,  drove  fresh  crowds  of  sectarians  every  year  to 
the  shores  of  America.  In  England  the  stronghold  of  puri- 
tanism  was  in  the  middle  classes,  and  it  was  from  the  middle 
classes  that  the  majority  of  the  emigrants  came.  The  popu 
lation  of  New  England  increased  rapidly ;  and  while  the 
hierarchy  of  rank  despotically  classed  the  inhabitants  of  the 
mother-country,  the  colony  continued  to  present  the  novel 
spectacle  of  a  community  homogeneous  in  all  its  parts.  A 
democracy,  more  perfect  than  any  which  antiquity  had 
dreamed  of,  started  in  full  size  and  panoply  from  the  midst 
of  an  ancient  feudal  society. 

The  English  government  was  not  dissatisfied  with  an 
emigration  which  removed  the  elements  of  fresh  discord  and 
of  future  revolutions.  On  the  contrary,  everything  was  done 
to  encourage  it,  and  little  attention  was  paid  to  the  destiny  of 

*  "  New  England  Memorial,"  p.  37 

t  The  emigrants  who  founded  the  state  of  Rhode  Island  in  1638, 
those  who  landed  at  New  Haven  in  lu'37,  the  first  settlers  in  Connec 
ticut  in  1639,  and  the  founders  of  Providence  in  1640,  he^au  in  like 
manner  by  drawing  up  a  social  contract,  which  was  submitted  to  the 
approval  of  all  the  interested  parties.  See  "  Pitkiri's  History,"  pp 
42.  47. 


AND   ITS   IMPORTANCE.  33 

those  who  sought  a  shelter  from  the  rigor  of  their  country's 
laws  on  the  soil  of  America.  It  seemed  as  if  New  England 
was  a  region  given  lip  to  the  dreams  of  fancy,  and  the  unre 
strained  experiments  of  innovators. 

The  English  colonies  (and  this  is  one  of  the  main  causes 
of  their  prosperity)  have  always  enjoyed  more  internal  free 
dom  and  more  political  independence  than  the  colonies  of 
other  nations ;  but  this  principle  of  liberty  was  nowhere  more 
extensively  applied  than  in  the  states  of  New  England. 

It  was  generally  allowed  at  that  period  that  the  territories 
of  the  New  World  belonged  to  that  European  nation  which 
had  been  the  first  to  discover  them.  Nearly  the  whole  coast 
of  North  America  thus  became  a  British  possession  toward 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  means  used  by  the 
English  government  to  people  these  new  domains  were  of 
several  kinds  :  the  king  sometimes  appointed  a  governor  of 
his  own  choice,  who  ruled  a  portion  of  the  New  World  in  the 
name  and  under  the  immediate  orders  of  the  crown  ;*  this  is 
the  colonial  system  adopted  by  the  other  countries  of  Europe. 
Sometimes  grants  of  certain  tracts  were  made  by  th£  crown 
to  an  individual  or  to  a  company,f  in  which  case  all  the  civil 
and  political  power  fell  into  the  hands  of  one  or  more  per 
sons,  who,  under  the  inspection  and  control  of  the  crown, 
sold  the  lands  and  governed  the  inhabitants.  Lastly,  a  third 
system  consisted  in  allowing  a  certain  number  of  emigrants 
to  constitute  a  political  society  under  the  protection  of  the 
mother-country,  and  to  govern  themselves  in  whatever  was 
not  contrary  to  her  laws.  This  mode  of  colonization,  so  re 
markably  favorable  to  liberty,  was  adopted  only  in  New 
England.^ 

*  This  was  the  case  in  the  state  of  New  York. 

f  Maryland,  the  Carolinas,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey,  were  in 
this  situation.  See  Pitkin's  History,  vol.  i.,  pp.  11-31. 

J  See  the  work  entitled,  "  Historical  Collection  of  State  Papers 
and  other  Authentic  Documents  intended  as  Materials  for  a  History 
of  the  United  States  of  America"  by  Ebenezer  Hazard,  Philadel 
phia,  1792,  for  a  great  number  of  documents  relating  to  the  com 
mencement  of  the  colonies,  which  are  valuable  from  their  contents 
and  their  authenticity ;  among  them  are  the  various  charters  granted 
by  the  king  of  England,  and  the  first  acts  of  the  local  governments. 

See  also  the  analysis  of  all  these  charters  given  by  Mr.  Story,  judge 
of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  in  the  introduction  to  his 
Commentary  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It  results  from 
these  documents  that  the  principles  of  representative  government  and 
the  external  forms  of  political  liberty  were  introduced  into  all  the 
colonies  at  their  origin  These  principles  were  more  fully  acted  upon 
in  the  North  than  in  the  South,  but  they  existed  everywhere. 
3 


34  ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

In  1628,*  a  charter  of  this  kind  was  granted  by  Charles 
I.  to  the  emigrants  who  went  to  form  the  colony  of  Massachu 
setts.  But,  in  general,  charters  were  not  given  to  the  colo 
nies  of  New  England  till  they  had  acquired  a  certain  exist 
ence.  Plymouth,  Providence,  New  Haven,  the  state  of  Con 
necticut,  and  that  of  Rhode  Island,  j"  were  founded  without 
the  co-operation,  and  almost  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
mother-country.  The  new  settlers  did  not  derive  their  incor 
poration  from  the  head  of  the  empire,  although  they  did  not 
deny  its  supremacy ;  they  constituted  a  society  of  their  own 
accord,  arid  it  was  not  till  thirty  or  forty  years  afterward, 
under  Charles  II.,  that  their  existence  was  legally  recog 
nised  by  a  royal  charter. 

This  frequently  renders  it  difficult  to  detect  the  link  which 
connected  the  emigrants  with  the  land  of  their  forefathers, 
in  studying  the  earliest  historical  and  legislative  records  of 
New  England.  They  perpetually  exercised  the  rights  of 
sovereignty  ;  they  named  their  magistrates,  concluded  peace 
or  declared  war,  made  police  regulations,  and  enacted  laws, 
as  if  their  allegiance  was  due  only  to  God.J  Nothing  can 
be  more  curious,  and  at  the  same  time  more  instructive  than 
the  legislation  of  that  period  ;  it  is  there  that  the  solution  of 
the  great  social  problem  which  the  United  States  now  pre 
sent  to  the  world  is  to  be  found. 

Among  these  documents  we  shall  notice  as  especially  cha 
racteristic,  the  code  of  laws  promulgated  by  the  little  state 
of  Connecticut  in  1650. § 

The  legislators  of  Connecticut]]  begin  with  the  penal  laws, 
and,  strange  to  say,  they  borrow  their  provisions  from  the 
,  text  of  holy  writ. 

"  Whoever  shall  worship  any  other  God  than  the  Lord," 
says  the  preamble  of  the  code,  "  shall  surely  be  put  to 
death."  This  is  followed  by  ten  or  twelve  enactments  of 
the  same  kind,  copied  verbatim  from  the  books  of  Exodus, 

*  See  Pitkin's  History,  p.  35.  See  the  History  of  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  by  Hutchinspn,  vol.  i.;  p.  9. 

t  See  Pitkin's  History,  pp.  42,  47. 

i  The  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts  had  deviated  from  the  forms 
which  are  preserved  in  the  criniintl  and  civil  procedure  of  England: 
in  1650  the  decrees  of  justice  were  not  yet  headed  by  the  royal  style;. 
See  Hutchinson,  vol.  i.,  p.  452. 

§  Code  of  1650,  p.  28.     Hartford,  1830. 

||  See  also  in  Hu*;chinson's  History,  vol.  i.,  pp.  435,  450,  th« 
analysis  of  the  penal  code  adopted  in  1648,  by  the  colony  of  Massa 
chusetts  :  this  code  is  drawn  up  on  the  same  principles  as  that  of 
Connecticut. 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  35 

Leviticus,  and  Deuteronomy.  Blasphemy,  sorcery,  adul 
tery,*  and  rape  were  punished  with  death  ;  an  outrage  of 
fered  by  a  son  to  his  parents,  was  to  be  expiated  by  the  same 
penalty.  The  legislation  jrfjj^rude  and  half-civilized  peo 
ple  was  thus  transferred  to  an  enlightened  and  moral  com- 
"munity.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  punishment  of 
death  was  never  more  frequently  prescribed  by  the  statute, 
and  never  more  rarely  enforced  toward  the  guilty. 

The  chief  care  of  the  legislators,  in  this  body  of  penal 
laws,  was  the  maintenance  of  orderly  conduct  and  good 
morals  in  the  community :  they  constantly  invaded  the  do 
main  of  conscience,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  sin  which 
they  did  not  subject  to  magisterial  censure.  The  reader  is 
aware  of  the  rigor  with  which  these  laws  punished  rape  and 
adultery  ;  intercourse  between  unmarried  persons  was  like 
wise  severely  repressed.  The  judge  was  empowered  to  in 
flict  a  pecuniary  penalty,  a  whipping,  or  marriage, f  on  the 
misdemeanants  ;  and  if  the  records  of  the  old  courts  of  New 
Haven  may  be  believed,  prosecutions  of  this  kind  were  not 
infrequent.  We  find  a  sentence  bearing  date  the  first  of 
May,  1660,  inflicting  a  fine  and  a  reprimand  on  a  young 
woman  who  was  accused  of  using  improper  language,  and 
of  allowing  herself  to  be  kissed.:):  The  code  of  1650  abounds 
in  preventive  measures.  It  punishes  idleness  and  drunken- 
with  severity. §  Innkeepers  are  forbidden  to  furnish  more 
than  a  certain  quantity  of  liquor  to  each  customer ;  and 
simple  lying,  whenever  it  may  be  injurious,||  is  checked  by 
a  fine  or  a  flogging.  In  other  places,  the  legislator,  entirely 
forgetting  the  great  principles  of  religious  toleration  which 

Adultery  was  also  punished  with  death  by  the  law  of  Massachu 
setts  ;  and  Hutchinson,  vol.  i.,  p.  441,  says  that  several  persons  ac 
tually  suffered  for  this  crime.  He  quotes  a  curious  anecdote  on  this 
subject,  which  occurred  in  the  year  1603.  A  married  woman  had 
had  criminal  intercourse  with  a  young  man  ;  her  husband  died,  and 
she  married  the  lover.  Several  years  had  elapsed,  when  the  public 
began  to  suspect  the  previous  intercourse  of  this  couple  ;  they  were 
thrown  into  prison,  put  upon  trial,  and  very  narrowly  escaped  capital 
punishment. 

f  Code  of  1650,  p.  48.  It  seems  sometimes  to  have  happened  that 
the  judge  superadded  these  punishments  to  each  other,  as  is  seen  in  a 
sentence  pronounced  in  1643  (New  Haven  Antiquities,  p.  114),  by 
which  Margaret  Bedford,  convicted  of  loose  cond  ict,  was  condemned 
to  be  whipped,  and  afterward  to  marry  Nicolas  Jemmings  her  accom 
plice. 

I  New  Haven  Antiquities,  p.  104.  See  also  Hutchinson's  History 
for  several  causes  equally  extraordinary. 

§  Code  of  1650,  pp.  50,  57. 

||  Ibid,  p.  64. 


36  "   ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

he  had  himself  upheld  in  Europe,  renders  attendance  on  di 
vine  service  compulsory,*  and  goes  so  far  as  to  visit  with 
severe  punishment,f  and  even  with  death,  the  Chrislians 
who  chose  to  worship  God  according  to  a  ritual  differing 
from  his  own .J  Sometimes  indeed,  the  zeal  of  his  enact 
ments  induces  him  to  descend  to  the  most  frivolous  particu 
lars  :  thus  a  law  is  to  be  found  in  the  same  code  which  pro 
hibits  the  use  of  tobacco. §  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
these  fantastical  and  vexatious  laws  were  not  imposed  by 
authority,  but  that  they  were  freely  voted  by  all  the  persons 
interested,  and  that  the  manners  of  the  community  were 
even  more  austere  and  more  puritanical  than  the  laws.  In 
1649  a  solemn  association  was  formed  in  Boston  to  check  the 
worldly  luxury  of  long  hair.|| 

These"  errors  are  no  doubt  discreditable  to  the  human  rea 
son  ;  they  attest  the  inferiority  of  our  nature,  which  is  inca 
pable  of  laying  firm  hold  upon  what  is  true  and  just,  and  is 
often  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  two  excesses.  In  strict 
connection  with  this  penal  legislation,  which  bears  such 
striking  marks  of  a  narrow  sectarian  spirit,  and  of  those  re 
ligious  passions  which  had  been  warmed  by  persecution,  and 
were  still  fermenting  among  the  people,  a. body  of  political 
laws  is  to  be  found,  which,  though  written  two  hundfeTyears 
ago,  is  still  ahead  of  the  liberties  of  our  age. 

The  general  principles  which  are  the  groundwork  of 
modern  constitutions — principles  which  were  imperfectly 
known  in  Europe,  and  not  completely  triumphant  even  in 
Great  Britain,  in  the  seventeenth  century — were  all  recog 
nised  and  determined  by  the  laws  of  New  England  :  the  in- 

*  Tbid,  p.  44. 

f  This  was  not  peculiar  to  Connecticut.  See  for  instance  the  law 
which,  on  the  13th  of  September,  1044,  banished  the  ana-baptists 
from  the  state  of  Massachusetts.  (Historical  Collection  of  State 
Papers,  vol.  i.,  p.  538.)  See  also  the  law  against  the  Quakers,  passed 
on  the  14th  of  October,  1656.  "  Whereas,"  says  the  preamble,  "  an 
accursed  race  of  heretics  called  quakers  has  sprung  up,"  &c.  The 
clauses  of  the  statute  inflict  a  heavy  fine  on  all  captains  of  ships  who 
should  import  quakers  into  the  country.  The  quakers  who  may  be 
found  there  shall  be  whipped  arid  imprisoned  with  hard  labor.  Those 
members  of  the  sect  who  should  defend  their  opinions  shall  be  first 
fined,  then  imprisoned,  and  finally  driven  out  of  the  province.  (His 
torical  Collection  of  State  Papers,' vol.  i.,  p.  630.) 

J  By  the  penal  law  of  Massachusetts,  any  catholic  priest  who  should 
set  foot  in  the  colony  after  having  been  once  driven  out  of  it,  was  lia 
ble  to  capital  punishment. 
Code  of  1650,  p.  96. 
New  England's  Memorial,  p.  316.     See  Appendix  E. 


AND    ITS    . MPORTANCE.  37 

!erventian-a£4he  people  in  public  affairs,  the  free  voting  of 
taxes,  the  responsibility  of  authorities!  personal  liberty,  and 
trial  by  jury,  were  all  positively  established  without  dis 
cussion. 

From  these  fruitful  principles,  consequences  have  been  de 
rived  and  applications  have  been  made  such  as  no  nation  in 
Europe  has  yet  ventured  to  attempt. 

In  Connecticut  the  electoral  body  consisted,  from  its  origin, 
of  the  whole  number  of  citizens  ;  and  this  is  readily  to  be 
understood,*  when  we  recollect  that  this  people  enjoyed  an 
almost  perfect  equality  of  fortune,  and  a  still  greater  uni 
formity  of  capacity. f  In  Connecticut,  at  this  period,  all  the 
executive  functionaries  were  elected,  includingjhegoy^rnop. 
of  the  state.J  The  citizens  above  the  a^emsfxleen  were 
obliged  to  bear  arms  ;  they  formed  a  national  militia,  which 
appointed  its  own  officers,  and  was  to  hold  itself  at  all  times 
in  readiness  to  march  for  the  defence  of  the  country. § 

In  the  laws  of  Connecticut,  as  well  as  in  those  of  New 
England,  we  find  the  germe  and  gradual  development  of 
thatjxnvnsjiip  independence,  which  is  the  life  and  mainspring 
of  American  liberty  at  the  present  day.  The  political  ex 
istence  of  the  majority  of  the  nations  of  Europe  commenced 
in  the  superior  ranks  of  society,  and  was  gradually  and  al 
ways  imperfectly  communicated  to  the  different  members  of 
the  social  body.  In  America,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be 
said  that  the  townsTiip  was  organized  before  the  county,  the 
county  before  the  state,  the  state  before  the  Union. 

In  New  England,  townships  were  completely  and  defini 
tively  constituted  as  early  as  1650.  The  independence  of 
the  township  was  the  nucleus  around  which  the  local  interests, 
passions,  rights,  and  duties,  collected  and  clung.  It  gave 
scope  to  the  activity  of  a  real  political  life,  most  thoroughly 
democratic  and  republican.  The  colonies  still  recognised 
the  supremacy  of  the  mother-country;  monarchy  was  still 
the  law  of  the  state ;  but  the  republic  was  already  estab 
lished  in  every  township. 

The  towns  named  their  own  magistrates  of  every  kind, 
rated  themselves,  and  levied  their  own  taxes. ||  In  the  town- 

*  Constitution  of  163S,  p.  17. 

t  In  1641  the  general  assembly  of  Rhode  Island  unanimously  de 
clared  that  the  government  of  the  state  was  a  democracy,  and  that  the 
power  was  vested  in  the  body  of  free  citizens,  who  alone  had  the  right 
to  make  the  laws  and  to  watch  their  execution.  Code  of  1050,  p.  70 

t  Pitkin's  History,  p.  47.  §  Constitution  of  1038,  p.  12. 

||  Code  of  1650,  p.  80. 


38  ORIGIN    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

ships  of  New  England  the  law  of  representation  was  not 
adopted,  but  the  affairs  of  the  community  were  discussed, 
as  at  Athens,  in  the  market-place,  by  a  general  assembly  of 
the  citizens. 

In  studying  the  laws  which  were  promulgated  at  this  first 
era  of  the  American  republics,  it  is  impossible  not  to  be 
struck  by  the  remarkable  acquaintance  with  the  science  of 
government,  and  the  advanced  theory  of  legislation,  which 
they  display.  The  ideas  there  formed  of  the  duties  of  so 
ciety  toward  its  members-,  are  evidently  much  loftier  and 
more  comprehensive  than  those  of  the  European  legislators 
at  that  time :  obligations  were  there  imposed  which  were 
Elsewhere  slighted.  In  the  states  of  New  England,  from 
the  first,  the  condition  of  the  poor  was  provided  for  ;*  strict 
measures  were  taken  for  the  maintenance  of  roads,  and  sur 
veyors  were  appointed  to  attend  to  them  ;f  registers  were 
established  in  every  parish,  in  which  the  results  of  public 
deliberations,  and  the  births,  deaths,  and  marriages  of  the 
citizens  were  entered ;  J  clerks  were  directed  to  keep  these 
registers  ;§  officers  were  charged  with  the  administration  of 
vacant  inheritances,  and  with  the  arbitration  of  litigated 
landmarks ;  and  many  others  were  created  whose  chief 
functions  were  the  maintenance  of  public  order  in  the  com 
munity.  ||  The  law  enters  into  a  thousand  useful  provisions 
for  a  number  of  social  wants  which  are  at  present  very  in 
adequately  felt  in  France. 

But  it  is  by  the  attention  it  pays  to  public  education  that 
the  original  character  of  American  civilisation  is  at  once 
placed  in  the  clearest  light.  "  It  being,"  says  the  law,  "  one 
chief  project  of  Satan  to  keep  men  from  the  knowledge  of  the 
Scripture  by  persuading  from  the  use  of  tongues,  to  the  end 
that  learning  may  not  be  buried  in  the  graves  of  our  forefa 
thers,  in  church  and  commonwealth,  the  Lord  assisting  our 
endeavors,  .  .  ."IT  Here  follow  clauses  establishing  schools 
in  every  township,  and  obliging  the  inhabitants,  under  pain  of 
heavy  fines,  to  support  them.  Schools  of  a  superior  kind 
were  founded  in  the  same  manner  in  the  more  populous  dis 
tricts.  The  municipal  authoriiies  were  bound  to  enforce  the 
sending  of  children  to  school  by  their  parents ;  they  were 
empowered  to  inflict  fines  upon  all  who  refused  compliance ; 
and  in  cases  of  continued  resistance,  society  assumed  the 

*  Code  of  1650,  p.  78.     f  Code  of  1750,  p.  94. 
c   Ibid,  p.  86.  }  See  Hutchinson's  History,  vol.  i.  p.  455. 

Ibid,  p.  40.  IT  Code  of  1650,  p.  90. 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  39 

place  of  the  parent,  took  possession  of  the  child,  and  deprived 
the  father  of  those  natural  rights  which  he  used  to  so  bad  a 
purpose.  The  reader  will  undoubtedly  have  remarked  the 
preamble  of  these  enactments :  in  America,  religion  is  the 
road  to  knowledge,  and  the  observance  of  the  divine  laws 
leads  men  to  civil  freedom. 

If,  after  having  cast  a  rapid  glance  over  the  state  of  Ame 
rican  society  in  1650,  we  turn  to  the  condition  of  Europe,  and 
more  especially  to  that  of  the  continent,  at  the  same  period, 
we  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  astonishment.  On  the  con 
tinent  of  Europe,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
absolute  monarchy  had  everywhere  triumphed  over  the  ruins  of 
the  oligarchical  and  feudal  liberties  of  the  middle  ages.  Never 
were  the  notions  of  right  more  completely  confounded  than 
in  the  midst  of  the  splendor  and  literature  of  Europe  ;  never 
was  there  less  political  activity  among  the  people  ;  never 
were  the  principles  of  true  freedom  less  widely  circulated ; 
and  at  that  very  time,  those  principles,  which  were  scorned  or 
unknown  by  the  nations  of  Europe,  were  proclaimed  in  the 
deserts  of  the  New  World,  and  were  accepted  as  the  future 
creed  of  a  great  people.  The  boldest  theories  of  the  human 
reason  were  put  into  practice  by  a  community  so  humble, 
that  not  a  statesman  condescended  to  attend  to  it  ;  and  a  le 
gislation  without  precedent  was  produced  ofF-hand  by  the 
imagination  of  the  citizens.  In  the  bosom  of  this  obscure 
democracy,  which  had  as  yet  brought  forth  neither  generals, 
nor  philosophers,  nor  authors,  a  man  might  stand  up  in  the 
face  of  a  free  people,  and  pronounce  amid  general  acclama 
tions  the  following  fine  definition  of  liberty  :* — 

"  Nor  would  I  have  you  to  mistake  in  the  point  of  your 
own  liberty.  There  is  a  liberty  of  corrupt  nature,  which  is 
affected  both  by  men  and  beasts  to  do  what  they  list ;  and  this 
liberty  is  inconsistent  with  authority,  impatient  of  all  re 
straint  ;  by  this  liberty  '  sumus  ornnes  drtcriores  ;'  't  is  the 
grand  enemy  of  truth  and  peace,  and  all  the  ordinances  of 
God  are  bent  against  it.  But  there  is  a  civil,  a  moral,  a  fede 
ral  liberty,  which  is  the  proper  end  and  object  of  authority  ; 
is  a  liberty  for  that  only  which  is  just  and  good  :  for  this 
liberty  you  are  to  stand  with  the  hazard  of  your  very  lives, 

*  Mather's  Magnalia  Chnsti  Americana,  TO!,  ii.,  p.  13.  This  speech 
was  made  by  Winthrop  ;  he  was  accused  of  having  committed  arbitrary 
actions  during  his  magistracy,  but  after  having  made  the  speech  of 
which  the  above  is  a  fragment,  he  was  acquitted  by  acclamation,  and 
from  that  time  forward  he  was  always  re-elected  governor  of  the  state 
See  Marshall,  vol.  i.,  p.  1G6. 


40  ORIGIN    OF    THE   ANGLO-AMERICANS 

and  whatsoever  crosses  it.  is  not  authority,  but  a  diirtemper 
thereof.  This,  liberty  is  maintained  in  a  way  of  subjection 
to  authority  ;  and  the  authority  set  over  you  will,  in  all  admi 
nistrations  for  your  good,  be  quietly  submitted  unto  by  all  but 
such  as  have  a  disposition  to  shake  off  the  yoke  and  lose  their 
true  liberty,  by  their  murmuring  at  the  honor  and  power  of 
authority." 

The  remarks  I  have  made  will  suffice  to  display  the  cha 
racter  of  Anglo-American  civilisation  in  its  true  light.  It  is 
the_j.esult  (and  this  should  be  constantly  present  to  the  mind) 
of  two  distinct  elements,  which  in  other  places  have  been  in 
frequent  hostility,  but  which  in  America  have  admirably  in 
corporated  and  combined  with  one  another.  I  allude  to  the 
spirit  of  religion  and  the  spirit  of  liberty. 

The  settlers  of  New  England  were  at  the  same  time  ardent 
11  sectarians  and  daring  innovators.     Narrow  as  the  limits  of 
some  of  their  religious  opinions  were,  they  were  entirely  free 
from  political  prejudices. 

Hence  arose  two  tendencies,  distinct  but  not  opposite,  which 
are  constantly  discernible  in  the  manners  as  well  as  in  the 
laws  of  the  country. 

It  might  be  imagined  that  men  who  sacrificed  their  friends, 
their  family,  and  their  native  land,  to  a  religious  conviction, 
were  absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  the  intellectual  advantages 
which  they  purchased  at  so  dear  a  rate.  The  energy,  how 
ever,  with  which  they  strove  for  the  acquirements  of  wealth, 
moral  enjoyment,  and  the  comforts  as  well  as  the  liberties  of 
the  world,  was  scarcely  inferior  to  that  with  which  they  de 
voted  themselves  to  Heaven. 

Political  principles,  and  all  human  laws  and  institutions 
were  moulded  and  altered  at  their  pleasure  ;  the  barriers  of 
the  society  in  which  they  were  born  were  broken  down  before 
them ;  the  old  principles  which  had  governed  the  world  for 
ages  were  no  more  ;  a  path  without  a  turn,  and  a  field  with 
out  a  horizon,  were  opened  to  the  exploring  and  ardent  curi 
osity  of  man  ;  but  at  the  limits  of  the  political  world  lie 
checks  his  researches,  he  discreetly  lays  aside  the  use  of  his 
most  formidable  faculties,  he  no  longer  consents  to  doubt  or  to 
innovate,  but  carefully  abstaining  from  raising  the  curtain  of 
the  sanctuary,  he  yields  with  submissive  respect  to  truths 
which  he  will  not  discuss. 

Thus  in  the  moral  world,  everything  is  classed,  adapted, 

^    decided,  and  foreseen  ;  in  the  political  world  everything  is 

agitated,  uncertain,  and  disputed  :  in  the  one  is  a  passive. 


AND    ITS    IMPORTANCE.  41 

though  a  voluntary  obedience  ;  in  the  other  an  independence, 
scornful  of  experience  and  jealous  of  authority. 

These  two  tendencies,  apparently  so  discrepant,  are  far 
from  conflicting  ;  they  advance  together,  and  mutually  sup 
port  each  other. 

Religion  perceives  that  civil  liberty  affords  a  noble  exercise 
to  the  faculties  of  man,  and  that  the  political  world  is  a  field 
prepared  by  the  Creator  for  the  efforts  of  the  intelligence. 
Contented  with  the  freedom  and  the  power  which  it  enjoys  in 
its  own  sphere,  and  with  the  place  which  it  occupies,  the  em 
pire  of  religion  is  never  more  surely  established  than  when  it 
reigns  in  the  hearts  of  men  unsupported  by  aught  besides  its 
native  strength. 

Religion  is  no  less  the  companion  of  liberty  in  all  its  bat 
tles  and  its  triumphs  ;  the  cradle  of  its  infancy,  and  the  divine 
source  of  its  claims.  The  safeguard  of  morality  is  religion, 
and  morality  is  the  best-security  of  law  as  well  as  the  surest 
pledge  of  freedom.* 


REASONS    OF    CERTAIN   ANOMALIES    WHICH    THE    LAWS    AND 
CUSTOMS    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS    PRESENT. 

Remains  of  aristocratic  Institutions  in  the  midst  of  a  complete  Demo 
cracy. — Why  ? — Distinction  carefully  to  be  drawn  between  what  is  of 
Puritanical  and  what  is  of  English  Origin. 

THE  reader  is  cautioned  not  to  draw  too  general  or  too  abso 
lute  an  inference  from  what  has  been  said.  The  social  con 
dition,  the  religion,  and  the  manners  of  the  first  emigrants 
undoubtedly  exercised  an  immense  influence  on  the  destiny 
of  their  new  country.  Nevertheless  it  was  not  in  their  power 
to  found  a  state  of  things  originating  solely  in  themselves ; 
no*  man  can  entirely  shake  off  the  influence  of  the  past ,  and 
the  settlers,  unintentionally  or  involuntarily,  mingled  habits 
derived  from  their  education  and  from  the  traditions  of  their 
country,  with  those  habits  and  notions  which  were  exclusively 
their  own.  To  form  a  judgment  on  the  Anglo-Americans 
of  the  present  day,  it  is  therefore  necessary  carefully  to  dis 
tinguish  what  is  of  puritanical  from  what  is  of  English  origin. 
Laws  and  customs  are  frequently  to  be  met  with  in  the  United 
States  which  contrast  strongly  with  all  that  surrounds  them. 
These  laws  seem  to  be  drawn  up  in  a  spirit  contrary  to  the 

*  See  Appendix  F. 


42  ORIGIN    OF   THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS 

prevailing  tenor  of  the  American  legislation ;  and  these  cus 
toms  are  no  less  opposed  to  the  general  tone  of  society.  If 
the  English  colonies  had  been  founded  in  an  age  of  darkness, 
or  if  their  origin  was  already  lost  in  the  lapse  of  years,  the 
problem  would  be  insoluble. 

I  shall  quote  a  single  example  to  illustrate  what  I  advance. 

The  civil  and  criminal  procedure  of  the  Americans  has 
only  two  means  of  action — commjttal^op^ail.  The  first 
measure  taken  by  the  magistrate  is  to  exact  security  from  the 
defendant,  or,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  incarcerate  him  :  the 
ground  of  the  accusation,  and  the  importance  of  the  charges 
against  him  are  then  discussed. 

It  is  evident  that  a  legislation  of  this  kind  is  hostile  to  the 
poor  man,  and  favorable  only  to  the  rich..  The  poor  man  has 
not  always  a  security  to  produce,  even  in  a  civil  cause  :  and 
if  he  is  obliged  to  wait  for  justice  in  prison,  he  is  speedily  re 
duced  to  distress.  The  wealthy  individual,  on  the  contrary, 
always  escapes  imprisonment  in  civil  causes ;  nay,  more,  he 
may  readily  elude  the  punishment  which  awaits  him  for  a 
delinquency,  by  breaking  his  bail.  So  that  all  the  penalties 
of  the  law  are,  for  him,  reducible  to  fines.*  Nothing  can  be 
more  aristocratic  than  this  system  of  legislation.  Yet  in 
America  it  is  the  poor  who  make  the  law,  and  they  usually 
reserve  the  greatest  social  advantages  to  themselves.  The 
explanation  of  the  phenomenon  is  to  be  found  in  England  ; 
\  the  laws  of  which  I  speak  are  English,"]*  and  the  Americans 
have  retained  them,  however  repugnant  they  may  be  to  the 
tenor  of  their  legislation,  and  the  mass  of  their  ideas. 

Next  to  its  habits,  the  thing  which  a  nation  is  least  apt  to 
change  is  its  civil  legislation.  Civil  laws  are  only  familiarly 
known  to  legal  men,  whose  direct  interest  it  is  to  maintain 
them  as  they  are,  whether  good  or  bad,  simply  because  they 
themselves  are  conversant  with  them.  The  body  of  the 
nation  is  scarcely  acquainted  with  them  :  it  merely  perceif  es 
their  action  in  particular  cases  ;  but  it  has  some  difficulty  in 
seizing  their  tendency,  and  obeys  them  without  reflection. 

I  have  quoted  one  instance  where  it  would  have  been  easy 
to  adduce  a  great  number  of  others. 

The  surface  of  American  society  is,  if  I  may  use  the  ex 
pression,  covered  with  a  layer  of  democracy,  from  beneath 
which  the  old  aristocratic  colors  sometimes  peep,  (a) 

*  Crimes  no  doubt  exist  for  which  bail  is  inadmissible,  but  they  are 
few  in  number. 

t  See  Blackstone;  and  Delolme,  book  i.,  chap.  x. 

(a)  The  author  is  not  quite  accurate  in  this  statement.     A  person 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOCIAL    CONDITION    OF    THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS. 

A  SOCIAL  condition  is  commonly  the  result  of  circumstances, 
sometimes  of  laws,  oftener  still  of  these  two  causes  united ; 
but  wherever  it  exists,  it  may  justly  be  considered  as  the 
source  of  almost  all  the  laws,  the  usages,  and  the  ideas, 

accused  of  crime  is,  in  the  first  instance,  arrested  by  virtue  of  a  war 
rant  issued  by  the  magistrate,  upon  a  complaint  granted  upon  proof  of 
a  crime  having  been  committed  by  the  person  charged.  He  is  then 
brought  before  the  magistrate,  the  complainant  examined  in  his  pre 
sence,  other  evidence  adduced,  and  he  is  heard  in  explanation  or  de 
fence.  If  the  magistrate  is  satisfied  that  a  crime  has  been  committed, 
and  that  the  accused  is  <ruilty,  the  latter  is  then,  and  then  only,  requir 
ed  to  give  security  for  his  appearance  at  the  proper  court  to  take  his 
trial,  if  an  indictment  shall  be  found  against  him  by  a  Grand  Jury  of 
twenty-three  of  his  fellow-citizens  In  the  event  of  his  inability  or 
refusal  to  give  the  security  he  is  incarcerated,  so  as  to  secure  his  ap 
pearance  at  a  trial. 

In  France,  after  the  preliminary  examination,  the  accused,  unless 
absolutely  discharged,  is  in  all  cases  incarcerated,  to  secure  his  pre 
sence  at  the  trial.  It  is  the  relaxation  of  this  practice  in  England 
and  the  United  States,  in  order  to  attain  the  ends  of  justice  at  the  least 
possible  inconvenience  to  the  accused,  by  accepting  what  is  deemed  an 
adequate  pledge  for  his  appearance,  which  our  author  considers 

!  hostile  to  the  poor  man  and  favorable  to  the  rich.     And  yet  it  is  very 

obvious,  that  such  is  not  its  design  or  tendency.  Good  character,  and 
probable  innocence,  ordinarily  obtain  for  the  accused  man  the  required 
security.  And  if  they  do  not,  how  can  complaint  be  justly  made  that 
others  are  not  treated  with  unnecessary  severity,  and  punished  in  anti 
cipation,  because  some  are  prevented  by  circumstances  from  availing 
themselves  of  a  benign  provision  so  favorable  to  humanity,  and  to  that 
innocence  which  our  law  presumes,  until  guilt  is  proved?  To  secure 
the  persons  of  suspected  criminals,  that  they  may  abide  the  sentence  of 
the  law,  is  indispensable  to  all  jurisprudence.  And  instead  of  reproof 
for  aristocratic  tendency,  our  system  deserves  credit  for  having  ame 
liorated,  as  far  as  possible,  the  condition  of  persons  accused.  That 
this  amelioration  cannot  be  made  in  all  instances,  flows  from  the  ne 
cessity  of  the  case. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose,  as  the  author  seems  to  have  done, 
that  the  forfeiture  of  the  security  given,  exonerates  the  accused  from 
punishment.  He  may  be  again  arrested  and  detained  in  prison,  as  se 
curity  would  not  ordinarily  be  received  from  a  person  who  had  given 
•such  evidence  of  his  guilt  as  would  be  derived  from  his  attempt  to 
escape.  And  the  difficulty  of  escape  is  rendered  so  great  by  our  con 
stitutional  provisions  for  the  delivery,,  by  the  different  states,  of  fugi 
tives  from  justice,  and  by  our  treaties  with  England  and  France  for  the 
same  purpose,  that  the  instances  of  successful  evasion  are  few  and 
rare. 


44  SOCIAL    CONDITION    OF 

which  regulate  the  conduct  of  nations  :  whatever  it  does  not 
produce,  it  modifies. 

It  is,  therefore,  necessary,  if  we  would  become  acquainted 
with  the  legislation  and  the  manners  of  a  nation,  to  begin  by 
the  study  of  its  social  condition. 


THE    STRIKING    CHARACTERISTIC    OF    THE    SOCIAL    CONDITION    OF 
THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS    IS    ITS   ESSENTIAL    DEMOCRACY. 

The  first  Emigrants  of  New  England. — Their  Equality. — Aristocratic 
*    Laws  introduced  in  the  South. — Period  of  the  Revolution. — Change 
in  the  Law  of  Descent. — Effects  produced  by  this  Change. — Demo 
cracy  carried  to 'its  utmost  Limits  in  the  new  States  of  the  West. — 
Equality  of  Education. 

MANY  important  observations  suggest  themselves  upon  the 
social  condition  of  the  Anglo-Americans ;  but  there  is  one 
which  takes  precedence  of  all  the  rest.  The  social  condi 
tion  of  the  Americans  is  eminently  democratic  ;  this  was  its 
character  at  the  foundation  of  the  colonies,  and  is  still  more 
strongly  marked  at  the  present  clay. 

I  have  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  great  equality 
existed  among  the  emigrants  who  settled  on  the  shores  of 
New  England.  The  germe  of  aristocracy  was  never  planted 
in  that  part  of  the  Union.  The  only  influence  which  ob 
tained  there  was  that  of  intellect  \  the  people  were  used  to 
reverence  certain  names  as  the  emblems  of  knowledge  and 
virtue.  Some  of  their  fellow-citizens  acquired  a  power  over 
the  rest  which  might  truly  have  been  called  aristocratic,  if 
it  had  been  capable  of  invariable  transmission  from  father  to 
son. 

This  was  the  state  of  things  to  the  east  of  the  Hudson  :  to 
the  southwest  of  that  river,  and  in  the  direction  of  the  Flori- 
das,  the  case  was  different.  In  most  of  the  states  situated 
to  the  southwest  of  the  Hudson  some  great  English  proprie 
tors  had  settled,  who  had  imported  with  them  aristocratic 
principles  and  the  English  law  of  descent.  I  have  explained 
the  reasons  why  it  was  impossible  ever  to  establish  a  power 
ful  aristocracy  in  America  ;  these  reasons  existed  with  less 
force  to  the  southwest  of  the  Hudson.  In  the  south,  one* 
man,  aided  by  slaves,  could  cultivate  a  great  extent  of  coun 
try  :  it  was  therefore  common  to  see  rich  landed  proprietors. 
But  their  influence  was  not  altogether  aristocratic  as  that 
term  is  understood  in  Europe,  since  they  possessed  no  privi- 


THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS.  45 

leges  ;  and  the  cultivation  of  their  estates  being  carried  on 
by  slaves,  they  had  no  tenants  depending  on  them,  and  con 
sequently  no  patronage.  Still,  the  great  proprietors  south  of 
the  Hudson  constituted  a  superior  class,  having  ideas  and 
tastes  of  its  own,  and  forming  the  centre  of  political  action. 
This  kind  of  aristocracy  sympathized  with  the  body  of  the 
people,  whose  passions  and  interests  it  easily  embraced ;  but 
it  was  too  weak  and  too  short-lived  to  excite  either  love  or 
hatred  for  itself.  This  was  the  class  which  headed  the  in 
surrection  in  the  south,  and  furnished  the  best  leaders  of  the 
American  revolution. 

At  the  period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  society  was 
shaken  to  its  centre :  the  people,  in  whose  name  the  struggle 
had  taken  place,  conceived  the  desire  of  exercising  the  au 
thority  which  it  had  acquired ;  its  democratic  tendencies 
were  awakened ;  and  having  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  the 
mother-country,  it  aspired  to  independence  of  every  kind. 
The  influence  of  individuals  gradually  ceased  to  be  felt,  and 
custom  and  law  united  together  to  produce  the  same  result. 

But  the  law  of  descent  was  the  last  step  to  equality.  I 
am  surprised  that  ancient  and  modern  jurists  have  not  attrib 
uted  to  this  law  a  greater  influence  on  human  affairs.*  It  is 
true  that  these  laws  belong  to  civil  affairs :  but  they  ought 
nevertheless  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  all  political  institu 
tions  ;  for,  while  political  laws  are  only  the  symbol  of  a  na 
tion's  condition,  they  exercise  an  incredible  influence  upon 
its  social  state.  They  have,  moreover,  a  sure  and  uniform 
manner  of  operating  upon  society,  affecting,  as  it  were,  gene 
rations  yet  unknown. 

Through  their  means  man  acquires  a  kind  of  preternatural 
power  over  the  future  lot  of  his  fellow-creatures.  When  the 
legislator  has  once  regulated  the  law  of  inheritance,  he  may 
rest  from  his  labor.  The  machine  once  put  in  motion  will 
go  on  for  ages,  and  advance,  as  if  self-guided,  toward  a  given 
point.  When  framed  in  a  particular  manner,  this  law  unites, 
draws  together,  and  vests  property  and  power  in  a  few  hands.: 
its  tendency  is  clearly  aristocratic.  On  opposite  principles 


*  I  understand  by  the  law  of  descent  all  those  laws  whose  principal 
object  it  is  to  regulate  the  distribution  of  property  after  the  death  of  its 
owner.  The  law  of  entail  is  of  this  number  :  it  certainly  prevents 
the  owner  from  disposing  of  his  possessions  before  his  death  ;  but  this 
is  solely  with  a  view  of  preserving  them  entire  for  the  heir.  The 
principal  object,  therefore,  of  the  law  of  entail  is  to  regulate  the  de 
scent  of  property  after  the  death  of  its  owner  :  its  other  provisions  are 
merely  means  to  this  end. 


46  SOCIAL    CONDITION    OF 

its  action  is  still  more  rapid ;  it  divides,  distributes,  and  dis 
perses  both  property  and  power.  Alarmed  by  the  rapidity 
of  its  progress,  those  who  despair  of  arresting  its  motion 
endeavor  to  obstruct  by  difficulties  and  impediments  •  they 
vainly  seek  to  counteract  its  effect  by  contrary  efforts  :  but  it 
gradually  reduces  or  destroys  every  obstacle,  until  by  its 
incessant  activity  the  bulwarks  of  the  influence  of  wealth 
are  ground  down  to  the  fine  and  shifting  sand  which  is  the 
basis  of  democracy.  When  the  law  of  inheritance  permits, 
still  more  when  it  decrees,  the  equal  division  of  a  father's 
property  among  all  his  children,  its  effects  are  of  two  kinds  : 
it  is  important  to  distinguish  them  from  each  other,  although 
'they  tend  to  the  same  end. 

In  virtue  of  the  law  of  partible  inheritance,  the  death  of 
every  proprietor  brings  about  a  kind  of  revolution  in  pro 
perty  :  not  only  do  his  possessions  change  hands,  but  their 
very  nature  is  altered  ;  since  they  are  parcelled  into  shares, 
which  become  smaller  and  smaller  at  each  division.  This  is 
the  direct,  and,  as  it  were,  the  physical  effect  of  the  law.  It 
follows,  then,  that  in  countries  where  equality  of  inheritance 
is  established  by  law,  property,  and  especially  landed  pro 
perty,  must  have  a  tendency  to  perpetual  diminution.  The 
effects,  however,  of  such  legislation  would  only  be  percep 
tible  after  a  lapse  of  time,  if  the  law  was  abandoned  to  its 
own  working;  for  supposing  a  family  to  consist  of -two  chil 
dren  (and  in  a  country  peopled  as  France  is,  the  average 
number  is  not  above  three),  these  children,  sharing  among 
them  the  fortune  of  both  parents,  would  not  be  poorer  than 
their  father  or  mother. 

But  the  law  of  equal  division  exercises  its  influence  not 
merely  upon  the  property  itself,  but  it  affects  the  minds  of 
the  heirs,  and  brings  their  passions  into  play.  These  indi 
rect  consequences  tend  powerfully  to  the  destruction  of  large 
fortunes,  and.  especially  of  large  domains. 

Among  the  nations  whose  law  of  descent  is  founded  upon 
the  right  of  primogeniture,  landed  estates  often  pass  from 
generation  to  generation  without  undergoing  division.  The 
consequence  of  which  is,  that  family  feeling  is  to  a  certain 
degree  incorporated  with  the  estate.  The  family  represents 
the  estate,  the  estate  the  family  ;  whose  name,  together  with 
its  origin,  its  glory,  its  power,  and  its  virtues,  is  thus  perpetu 
ated  in  an  imperishable  memorial  of  the  past,  and  a  sure 
pledge  of  the  future. 

When  the  equal  partition  of  property  is  established  by  law, 
the  intimate  connection  is  destroyed  between  family  feeling 


THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS.  47 

and  the  preservation  of  the  paternal  estate  ;  the  property 
ceases  to  represent  the  family  ;  for,  as  it  must  inevitably  be 
divided  after  one  or  two  generations,  it  has  evidently  a  con 
stant  tendency  to  diminish,  and  must  in  the  end  be  com 
pletely  dispersed.  The  sons  of  the  great  landed  proprietor, 
if  they  are  few  in  number,  or  if  fortune  befriend  them,  may 
indeed  entertain  the  hope  of  being  as  wealthy  as  their  father, 
Hut  not  that  of  possessing  the  same  property  as  he  did  ;  their 
riches  must  necessarily  be  composed  of  elements  different 
from  his. 

Now,  from  the  moment  when  you  divest  the  land-owner  of 
that  interest  in  the  preservation  of  his  estate  which  he  de 
rives  from  association,  from  tradition,  and  from  family  pride, 
you  may  be  certain  that  sooner  or  later  he  will  dispose  of  it ; 
for  there  is  a  strong  pecuniary  interest  in  favor  of  selling,  as 
floating  capital  produces  higher  interest  than  real  property, 
and  is  more  readily  available  to  gratify  the  passions  of  the 
moment. 

Great  landed  estates  which  have  once  been  divided,  nevei 
come  together  again ;  for  the  small  proprietor  draws  from 
his  land  a  better  revenue  in  proportion,  than  the  large  owner 
does  from  his;  and  of  course  he  sells  it  at  a  higher  rate.* 
The  calculations  of  gain,  therefore,  which  decided  the  rich 
man  to  sell  his  domain,  will  still  more  powerfully  influence 
him  against  buying  small  estates  to  unite  them  into  a  large 
one. 

What  is  called  family  pride  is  often  founded  upon  an  illu 
sion  of  self-love.  A  man  wishes  to  perpetuate  and  immortal 
ize  himself,  as  it  were,  in  his  great-grandchildren.  Where 
the  esprit  defamille  ceases  to  act,  individual  selfishness  comes 
into  play.  When  the  idea  of  family  becomes  vague,  indeter 
minate,  and  uncertain,  a  man  thinks  of  his  present  conveni 
ence  ;  he  provides  for  the  establishment  of  the  succeeding 
generation,  and  no  more. 

Either  a  man  gives  up  the  idea  of  perpetuating  his  family, 
or  at  any  rate  he  seeks  to  accomplish  it  by  other  means  than 
that  of  a  landed  estate. 

Thus  not  only  does  the  law  of  partible  inheritance  render 
it  difficult  for  families  to  preserve  their  ancestral  domains  en 
tire,  but  it  deprives  them  of  the  inclination  to  attempt  it,  and 
compels  them  in  some  measure  to  ccCoperate  with  the  law  irf 
their  own  extinction. 

*  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  small  proprietor  cultivates  his  land 
better,  but  he  cultivates  it  with  more  ardor  and  care  ;  so  that  he  makes 
up  by  his  labor  for  his  want  of  skill. 


48  SOCIAL    CONDITION    OF 

The  law  of  equal  distribution  proceeds  by  two  methods : 
(D  by  acting  upon  things,  it  acts  upon  persons  ;lJ>y  influencing 
persons,  it  affects  things.  By  these  means  the  law  succeeds 
in  striking  at  the  root  of  landed  property,  and  dispersing 
rapidly  both  families  and  fortunes.* 

Most  certainly  is  it  not  for  us,  Frenchmen  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  who  daily  behold  the  political  and  social  changes 
which  the  law  of  partition  is  bringing  to  pass,  to  question  its 
influence.  It  is  perpetually  conspicuous  in  our  country,  over 
throwing  the  walls  of  our  dwellings  and  removing  the  land 
marks  of  our  fields.  But  although  it  has  produced  great 
effects  in  France,  much  still  remains  for  it  to  do.  Our  recol 
lections,  opinions,  and  habits,  present  powerful  obstacles  to  its 
progress. 

In  the  United  States  it  has  nearly  completed  its  work  of  de 
struction,  and  there  we  can  best  study  its  results.  The  Eng 
lish  laws  concerning  the  transmission  of  property  were  abo 
lished  in  almost  all  the  states  at  the  time  of  the  revolution. 
The  law  of  entail  was  so  modified  as  not  to  interrupt  the  free 
circulation  of  property. f  The  first  having  passed  away, 
estates  began  to  be  parcelled  out ;  and  the  change  became 
more  and  more  rapid  with  the  progress  of  time.  At  this  mo 
ment,  after  a  lapse  of  little  more  than  sixty  years,  the  aspect 
of  society  is  totally  altered  ;  the  families  of  the  great  landed 
proprietors  are  almost  all  commingled  with  the  general  mass. 
In  the  state  of  New  York,  which  formerly  contained  many 
of  these,  there  are  but  two  who  still  keep  their  heads  above 
the  stream  ;  and  they  must  shortly  disappear.  The  sons  of 
these  opulent  citizens  have  become  merchants,  lawyers,  or 
physicians.  Most  of  them  have  lapsed  into  obscurity.  The 

*  Land  being  the  most  stable  kind  of  property,  we  find,  from  time  to 
time,  rich  individuals  who  are  disposed  to  make  great  sacrifices  in 
order  to  obtain  it,  and  who  willingly  forfeit  a  considerable  part  of  their 
income  to  make  sure  of  the  rest.  But  these  are  accidental  cases.  The 
preference  for  landed  property  is  no  longer  found  habitually  in  any 
class  but  among  the  poor.  The  small  land-owner,  who  has  less  infor 
mation,  less  imagination,  and  fewer  passions,  than  the  great  one,  is 
generally  occupied  with  the  desire  of  increasing  his  estate  ;  and  it 
often  happens  that  by  inheritance,  by  marriage,  or  by  the  chances  of 
trade,  he  is  gradually  furnished  with  the  means.  Thus,  to  balance  the 
tendency  which  leads  men  to  divide  their  estates,  there  exists  another, 
flhich  incites  them  to  add  to  them.  This  tendency,  which  is  sufficient 
to  prevent  estates  from  being  divided  ad  infinitum,  is  not  strong 
enough  to  create  great  territorrial  possessions,  certainly  not  to  keep 
them  up  in  the  same  family. 

f  See  Appendix  G. 


THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS.  49 

|j 

last  trace  of  hereditary  ranks  and  distinctions  is  destroyed — 
the  law  of  partition  has  reduced  all  to  one  level. 

I  do  not  mean  that  there  is  any  deficiency  of  wealthy  indi 
viduals  in  the  United  States ;  I  know  of  no  country,  indeed, 
where  the  love  of  money  has  taken  stronger  hold  on  the  af 
fections  of  men,  and  where  a  profounder  contempt  is  express 
ed  for  the  theory  of  the  permanent  equality  of  property.  But 
wealth  circulates  with  inconceivable  rapidity,  and  experience 
j  •  shows  that  it  is  rare  to  find  two  succeeding  generations  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  it. 

This  picture,  which  may  perhaps  be  thought  overcharged, 
still  gives  a  very  imperfect  idea  of  what  is  taking  place  in 
the  new  states  of  the  west  and  southwest.  At  the  end  of  the 
last  century  a  few  bold  adventurers  began  to  penetrate  into 
the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  mass  of  the  population 
very  soon  began  to  move  in  that  direction  :  communities  un 
heard  of  till  then  were  seen  to  emerge  from  their  wilds  : 
states,  whose  names  were  not  in  existence  a  few  years  before, 
claimed  their  place  in  the  American  Union  ;  and  in  the  west 
ern  settlements  we  may  behold  democracy  arrived  at  its  ut 
most  extreme.  In  these  states,  founded  off  hand,  and  as  it 
were  by  chance,  the  inhabitants  are  but  of  yesterday. 
Scarcely  known  to  one  another,  the  nearest  neighbors  are 
ignorant  of  each  other's  history.  In  this  part  of  the  Ameri 
can  continent,  therefore,  the  population  has  not  experienced 
the  influence  of  great  names  and  great  wealth,  nor  even  that 
of  the  natural  aristocracy  of  knowledge  and  virtue.  None 
are  there  to  wield  that  respectable  power  which  men  willingly 
grant  to  the  remembrance  of  a  life  spent  in  doing  good  before 
their  eyes.  The  new  states  of  the  west  are  already  inhabit 
ed  ;  but  society  has  no  existence  among  them. 

It  is  not  only  the  fortunes  of  men  which  are  equal  in  Ame 
rica  ;  even  their  acquirements  partake  in  some  degree  of  the 
same  uniformity.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  country  in  the 
world  where,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  there  are  so  few 
uninstructed,  and  at  the  same  time  so  few  learned  individuals. 
Primary  instruction  is  within  the  reach  of  everybody  ;  supe 
rior  instruction  is  scarcely  to  be  obtained  by  any.  This  is 
not  surprising  ;  it  is  in  fact  the  necessary  consequence  of 
what  we  have  advanced  above.  Almost  all  the  Americans 
are  in  easy  circumstances,  and  can  therefore  obtain  the  ele 
ments  of  human  knowledge. 

In  America  there  are  comparatively  few  who  are  rich 
enough  to  live  without  a  profession.  Every  profession  re 
quires  an  apprenticeship,  which  limits  the  time  of  instruction 
4 


50  SOCIAL   CONDITION    OF 

to  the  early  years  of  life.  At  fifteen  they  enter  upon  their 
calling,  and  thus  their  education  ends  at  the  age  when  ours 
begins.  Whatever  is  done  afterward,  is  with  a  view  to  some 
special  and  lucrative  object ;  a  science  is  taken  up  as  a  mat 
ter  of  business,  and  the  only  branch  of  it  which  is  attended 
to  is  such  as  admits  of  an  immediate  practical  application. 

[This  paragraph  does  not  fairly  render  the  meaning  of  the  author. 
The  original  French  is  as  follows': — 

"  En  Amerique  il  y  a  peu  de  riches  ;  presque  tous  les  Americains 
ont  done  besoin  d'exercer  une  profession.  Or,  toute  profession  exige 
an  apprentissage.  Les  Americains  ne  p^euvent  done  donner  a  la  culture 
g^enerale  de  1'intelligence  que  les  premieres  annees  de  la  vie  :  a  quinze 
ans,  ils  entrent  dans  une  carriere :  ainsi  leur  education  finit  le  plus 
souvent  a  1'epoque  ou  la  notre  commence." 

What  is  meant  by  the  remark,  that  "  at  fifteen  they  enter  upon  a 
career,  and  thus  their  education  is  very  often  finished  at  the  epoch 
when  ours  commences,"  is  not  clearly  perceived.  Our  professional 
men  enter  upon  their  course  of  preparation  for  their  respective  profes 
sions,  wholly  between  eighteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Appren 
tices  to  trades  are  bound  out,  ordinarily,  at  fourteen,  but  what  general 
education  they  receive  is  after  that  period.  Previously,  they  have  ac 
quired  the  mere  elements  of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  But  it 
is  supposed  there  is  nothing  peculiar  to  America,  in  the  age  at  which 
apprenticeship  commences.  In  England,  they  commence  at  the  same 
age,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  same  thing  occurs  throughout  Europe. 
It  is  feared  that  the  author  has  not  here  expressed  himself  with  his  usual 
clearness  and  precision. — American  Editor, ~\ 

In  America  most  of  the  rich  men  were  formerly  poor  : 
most  of  those  who  now  enjoy  leisure  were  absorbed  in  busi 
ness  during  their  youth  ;  the  consequence  of  which  is,  that 
when  they  might  have  had  a  taste  for  study  they  had  no  time 
for  it,  and  when  the  time  is  at  their  disposal  they  have  no 
longer  the  inclination. 

There  is  no  class,  then,  in  America  in  which  the  taste  for 
intellectual  pleasures  is  transmitted  with  hereditary  fortune 
and  leisure,  and  by  which  the  labors  of  the  intellect  are  held 
in  honor.  Accordingly  there  is  an  equal  want  of  the  desire 
and  the  power  of  application  to  these  objects. 

A  middling  standard  is  fixed  in  America  for  human  know 
ledge.  All  approach  as  near  to  it  as  they  can  ;  some  as  they 
rise,  others  as  they  descend.  Of  course,  an  immense  mul 
titude  of  persons  are  to  be  found  who  entertain  the  same 
number  of  ideas  on  religion,  history,  science,  political  eco 
nomy,  legislation,  and  government.  The  gifts  of  intellect 
proceed  directly  from  God,  and  man  cannot  prevent  their  un 
equal  distribution.  But  in  consequence  of  the  state  of  things 
which  we  have  here  represented,  it  happens,  that  although 


THE    ANGLO-AMERICANS.  51 

the  capacities  of  men  are  widely  different,  as  the  Creator  has 
doubtless  intended  they  should  be,  they  are  submitted  to  the 
same  method  of  treatment. 

In  America  the  aristocratic  element  has  always  been  fee 
ble  from  its  birth ;  and  if  at  the  present  day  it  is  not 
actually  destroyed,  it  is  at  any  rate  so  completely  disabled 
that  we  can  scarcely  assign  to  it  any  degree  of  influence  in 
the  course  of  affairs. 

The  democratic  principle,  on  the  contrary,  has  gained  so 
much  strength  by  time,  by  events,  and  by  legislation,  as  to 
have  become  not  only  predominant  but  all-powerful.  There 
is  no  family  or  corporate  authority,  and  it  is  rare  to  find  even 
the  influence  of  individual  character  enjoy  any  durability. 

America,  then,  exhibits  in  her  social  state  a  most  extraor 
dinary  phenomenon.  Men  are  there  seen  on  a  greater  equal 
ity  in  point  of  fortune  and  intellect:  or  in  other  words,  more 
ec[uar  irPtReir  strength,  than  in  any  other  country  of  the 
woHa7~or,  in  any  age  of  which  history  has  preserved  the  re 
membrance. 


POLITICAL   CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    SOCIAL    CONDITION    OF    THE 
ANGLO-AMERICANS. 

THE  political  consequences  of  such  a  social  condition  as  this 
are  easily  deducible. 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  equality  will  not  eventually 
find  its  way  into  the  political  world  as  it  does  everywhere 
else.  To  conceive  of  men  remaining  for  ever  unequal  upon 
one  single  point,  yet  equal  on  all  others,  is  impossible  ;  they 
must  come  in  the  end  to  be  equal  upon  all. 

Now  I  know  of  only  two  methods  of  establishing  equality  • 
in  the  political  world  :  eveiy  citizen  must  be  put  in  possession 
of  his  rights,  or  rights  must  be  granted  to  no  one.  For  nations 
which  have  arrived  at  the  same  stage  of  social  existence  as 
the  Anglo-Americans,  it  is  therefore  very  difficult  to  discover 
a  medium  between  the  sovereignty  of  all  and  the  absolute 
power  of  one  man :  and  it  would  be  vain  to  deny  that  the 
social  condition  which  1  have  been  describing  is  equally 
liable  to  each  of  these  consequences. 

There  is,  in  fact,  a  manly  and  lawful  passion  for  equality, 
which  excites  men  to  wish  all  to  be  powerful  and.honored.  This 
passion  tends  to  elevalathe  humble  ..to- the  ?ank  of  the  great ; 
but  there  exists  also  in  the  human  heart  a  depraved  taste  for 


52  PRINCIPLE    OF    THE    SOVEREIGNTY 

equality,  which  impels  the  weak  to  attempt  to  lower  the 
powerful  to  their  own  level,  and  reduces  men  to  prefer 
equality  in  slavery  to  inequality  with  freedom.  Not  that 
those  nations  whose  social  condition  is  democratic  naturally 
despise  liberty  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  have  an  instinctive  love 
of  it.  But  liberty  is  not  the  chief  and  constant  object  of 
their  desires ;  equality  is  their  idol :  they  make  rapid  and 
sudden  efforts  to  obtain  liberty,  and  if  they  miss  their  aim, 
resign  themselves  to  their  disappointment ;  but  nothing  can 
satisfy  them  except  equality,  and  rather  than  lose  it  they 
resolve  to  perish. 

«  On  the  other  hand,  in  a  state  where  the  citizens  are  nearly 
on  an  equality,  it  becomes  difficult  for  them  to  preserve  their 
independence  against  the  aggression  of  power.  No  one 
among  them  being  strong  enough  to  engage  singly  in  the 
struggle  with  advantage,  nothing  but  a  general  combination 
can  protect  their  liberty  :  and  such  a  union  is  not  always  to 
be  found. 

From  the  same  social  position,  then,  nations  may  derive 
one  or  the  other  of  two  great  political  results ;  these  results 
are  extremely  different  from  each  other,  but  they  may  both 
proceed  from  the  same  cause. 

The  Anglo-Americans  are  the  first  who,  having  been  ex 
posed  to  this  formidable  alternative,  have  been  happy  enough 
to  escape  the  dominion  of  absolute  power.  They  have  been 
allowed  by  their  circumstances,  their  origin,  their  intelli 
gence,  end  especially  by  their  moral  feeling,  to  establish  and 
maintain  the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    PRINCIPLE    OF   THE    SOVEREIGNTY    OF    THE    PEOPLE    IN 
AMERICA. 

It  predominates  over  the  whole  of  Society  in  America. — Application 
made  of  this  Principle  by  the  Americans  even  before  their  Revolu 
tion. — Development  given  to  it  by  that  Revolution. — Gradual  and 
irresistible  Extension  of  the  elective  Qualification. 

WHENEVER  the  political  Jaws  of  the  United  States  are  to  be 
discussed,  it  Is  with  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  peo 
ple  that  we  must  begin. 


OF    THE    PEOPLE    IN    AMERICA.  53 

The  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  which  is  to 
be  found,  more  or  less,  at  the  bottom  of  almost  all  human  in 
stitutions,  generally  remains  concealed  from  view.  It  is 
obeyed  without  being  recognised,  or  if  for  a  moment  it  be 
brought  to  light,  it  is  hastily  cast  back  into  the  gloom  of  the 
sanctuary. 

"  The  will  of  the  nation"  is  one  of  those  expressions  which 
have  been  most  profusely  abused  by  the  wily  and  the  despotic 
of  every  age.  To  the  eyes  of  some  it  has  been  represented 
by  the  venal  suffrages  of  a  few  of  the  satellites  of  power  ;  to 
others,  by  the  votes  of  a  timid  or  an  inter  -ed  minority  ; 
and  some  have  even  discovered  it  in  the  silence  of  a  people, 
on  the  supposition  that  the  fact  of  submission  established  the 
right  of  command. 

In  America,  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people 
is  not  either  barren  or  concealed,  as  it  is  with  some  other  na 
tions  ;  it  is  recognised  by  the  customs  and  proclaimed  by  the 
laws ;  it  spreads  freely,  and  arrives  without  impediment  at  its 
most  remote  consequences.  If  there  be  a  country  in  the 
world  where  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  can 
be  fairly  appreciated,  where  it  can  be  studied  in  its  applica 
tion  to  the  affairs  of  society,  and  where  its  dangers  and  its 
advantages  may  be  foreseen,  that  country  is  assuredly 
America. 

I  have  already  observed  that,  from  their  origin,  the  sove 
reignty  of  the  people  was  the  fundamental  principle  of  the 
greater  number  of  the  British  colonies  in  America.  It  was 
far,  however,  from  then  exercising  a^  much  influence  on  the 
government  of  society  as  it  now  does.  Two  obstacles,  the 
one  external,  the  other  internal,  checked  its  invasive  progress. 

It  could  not  ostensibly  disclose  itself  in  the  laws  of  the 
colonies,  which  were  still  constrained  to  obey  the  mother- 
country  ;  it  was  therefore  obliged  to  spread  secretly,  and  to 
gain  ground  in  the  provincial  assemblies,  and  especially  in 
the  townships. 

^~  American  society  was  not  yet  prepared  to  adopt  it  with  all 
its  consequences.  The  intelligence  of  New  England,  and 
the  wealth  of  the  country  to  the  south  of  the  Hudson  (as  I 
have  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter),  long  exercised  a  sort 
of  aristocratic  influence,  which  tended  to  limit  the  exercise 
of  social  authority  within  the  hands  of  a  few.  The  public 
functionaries  were  not  universally  elected,  and  the  citizens 
were  not  all  of  them  electors.  The  electoral  franchise  was 
everywhere  placed  within  certain  limits,  and  made  dependant 


54  PRINCIPLE    OF    THE    SOVEREIGNTY 

on  a  certain  qualification,  which  was  exceedingly  low  in  the 
north,  and  more  considerable  in  the  south. 

The  American  revolution  broke  out,  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  which  had  been  nurtured  in  the 
townships,  took  possession  of  the  state ;  every  class  was 
enlisted  in  its  cause  ;  battles  were  fought,  and  victories  ob 
tained  for  it ;  until  it  became  the  law  of  laws. 

A  scarcely  less  rapid  change  was  effected  in  the  interior 
of  society,  where  the  law  of  descent  completed  the  abolition 
of  local  influences. 

At  the  very  time  when  this  consequence  of  the  laws  and 
of  the  revolution  became  apparent  to  every  eye,  victory  was 
irrevocably  pronounced  in  favor  of  the  democratic  cause. 
All  power  was,  in  fact,  in  its  hands,  and  resistance  was  no 
longer  possible.  The  higher  orders  submitted  without  a  mur 
mur  and  without  a  struggle  to  an  evil  which  was  thenceforth 
inevitable.  The  ordinary  fate  of  falling  powers  awaited 
them ;  each  of  their  several  members  followed  his  own  inter 
est  ;  and  as  it  was  impossible  to  wring  the  power  from  the 
hands  of  a  people  which  they  did  not  detest  sufficiently  to 
brave,  their  only  aim  was  to  secure  its  good- will  at  any  price. 
The  most  democratic  laws  were  consequently  voted  by  the 
very  men  whose  interests  they  impaired ;  and  thus,  although 
the  higher  classes  did  not  excite  the  passions  of  the  people 
against  their  order,  they  accelerated  the  triumph  of  the  new 
state  of  things  ;  so  that,  by  a  singular  change,  the  democratic 
impulse  was  found  to  be  most  irresistible  in  the  very  states 
where  the  aristocracy  had  the  firmest  hold. 

The  state  of  Maryland,  which  had  been  founded  by  men 
of  rank,  was  the  first  to  proclaim  universal  suffrage,*  and  to 
introduce  the  most  democratic  forms  into  the  conduct  of  its 
government. 

When  a  nation  modifies  the  elective  qualification,  it  may 
easily  be  foreseen  that  sooner  or  later  that  qualification  will 
be  entirely  abolished.  There  is  no  more  invariable  rule  in 
the  history  of  society  :  the  farther  electoral  rights  are  ex 
tended,  the  more  is  felt  the  need  of  extending  them;  for 
after  each  concession  the  strength  of  the  democracy  in 
creases,  and  its  demands  increase  with  its  strength.  The 
ambition  of  those  who  are  below  the  appointed  rate  is  irri 
tated  in  exact  proportion  to  the  great  number  of  those  who 
are  above  it.  The  exception  at  last  becomes  the  rule,  con- 

*  See  the  amendments  made  to  the  constitution  of  Maryland  in  tSOl 
and  1809. 


OF   THE    PEOPLE    OF    AMERICA.  55 

cession  follows  concession,  and  no  stop  can  be  made  short  of 
universal  suffrage. 

At  the  present  day  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  has  acquired,  in  the  United  States,  all  the  practical 
development  which  the  imagination  can  conceive.  It  is  un 
encumbered  by  those  fictions  which  have  been  thrown  over  it 
in  other  countries,  and  it  appears  in  every  possible  form 
according  to  the  exigency  of  the  occasion.  Sometimes  the 
laws  are  made  by  the  people  in  a  body,  as  at  Athens  ;  and 
sometimes  its  representatives,  chosen  by  universal  suffrage, 
transact  business  in  its  name,  and  almost  under  its  immediate 
control. 

In  some  countries  a  power  exists  which,  though  it  is  in  a 
degree  foreign  to  the  social  body,  directs  it,  and  forces  it  to 
pursue  a  certain  track.  In  others  the  ruling  force  is  divided, 
being  partly  within  and  partly  without  the  ranks  of  the  peo 
ple.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  is  to  be  seen  in  the  United 
States ;  there  society  governs  itself  for  itself.  All  power 
centres  in  its  bosom  ;  and  scarcely  an  individual  is  to  be  met 
with  who  would  venture  to  conceive,  or,  still  more,  to  express, 
the  idea  of  seeking  it  elsewhere.  The  nation  participates  in 
the  making  of  its  laws  by  the  choice  of  its  legislators,  and 
in  the  execution  of  them  by  the  choice  of  the  agents  of  the 
executive  government ;  it  may  almost  be  said  to  govern 
itself,  so  feeble  and  so  restricted  is  the  share  left  to  the  ad 
ministration,  so  little  do  the  authorities  forget  their  popular 
origin  and  the  power  from  which  they  emanate.* 


CHAPTER  V. 

NECESSITY   OF   EXAMINING    THE    CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES 
BEFORE    THAT    OF    THE    UNION    AT    LARGE. 

IT  is  proposed  to  examine  in  the  following  chapter,  what  is 
the  form  of  government  established  in  America  on  the  prin 
ciple  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  ;  what  are  its  re 
sources,  its  hindrances,  its  advantages,  and  its  dangers.  The 
first  difficulty  which  presents  itself  arises  from  the  complex 
nature  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  consists 
of  two  distinct  social  structures,  connected,  and,  as  it  were, 

*  See  Appendix  II. 


56  NECESSITY    OF   EXAMINING   THE 

encased,  one  within  the  other ;  two  governments,  completely 
separate,  and  almost  independent,  the  one  fulfilling  the  ordi 
nary  duties,  and  responding  to  the  daily  and  indefinite  calls 
of  a  community,  the  other  circumscribed  within  certain 
limits,  and  only  exercising  an  exceptional  authority  over  the 
general  interests  of  the  country.  In  short,  there  are  twenty- 
four  small  sovereign  nations,  whose  agglomeration  constitutes 
the  body  of  the  Union.  To  examine  the  Union  before  we 
have  studied  the  states,  would  be  to  adopt  a  method  filled 
with  obstacles.  The  Federal  government  of  the  United  States 
was  the  last  which  was  adopted ;  and  it  is  in  fact  nothing 
more  than  a  modification  or  a  summary  of  these  republican 
principles  which  were  current  in  the  whole  community  be 
fore  it  existed,  and  independently  of  its  existence.  More 
over,  the  federal  government  is,  as  I  have  just  observed,  the 
exception  ;  the  government  of  the  states  is  the  rule.  The 
author  who  should  attempt  to  exhibit  the  picture  as  a  whole, 
before  he  had  explained  its  details,  would  necessarily  fall 
into  obscurity  and  repetition. 

The  great  political  principles  which  govern  American 
society  at  this  day,  undoubtedly  took  their  origin  and  their 
growth  in  the  state.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  state  in  order  to  possess  a  clew  to  the 
remainder.  The  states  which  at  present  compose  the  Ame 
rican  Union,  all  present  the  same  features  as  far  as  regards 
the  external  aspect  of  their  institutions.  Their  political  or 
administrative  existence  is  centred  in  three  foci  of  action, 
which  may  not  inaptly  be  compared  to  the  different  nervous 
centres  which  convey  motion  to  the  human  body.  The 
township  is  in  the  lowest  order,  then  the  county,  and  lastly 
the  state ;  and  I  propose  to  devote  the  following  chapter  to 
the  examination  of  these  three  divisions. 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM  OF  TOWNSHIPS  AND  MUNICIPAL  BODIES.* 

Why  the  Author  begins  the  Examination  of  the  Political  Institutions 
with  the  Township. — Its  Existence  in  all  Nations. — Difficulty  of 
Establishing  and  Preserving  Independence. — Its  Importance. — Why 
the  Author  has  selected  the  Township  System  of  New  England  as 
the  main  Object  of  his  Inquiry. 

*  [It  is  by  this  periphrasis  that  I  attempt  to  render  the  French 
expressions  "  Commune"  and  "  Systlme  Communal."  I  am  not 
aware  that  any  English  word  precisely  corresponds  to  the  gener.i]  term 
of  the  original.  In  France  every  association  of  human  dwellings  forms 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  .      57 

IT  is  not  undesignedly  that  I  begin  this  subject  with  the  town 
ship.  The  village  or  township  is  the  only  association  which 
is  so  perfectly  natural,  that  wherever  a  number  of  men  are 
collected,  it  seems  to  constitute  itself. 

The  town,  or  tithing,  as  the  smallest  division  of  a  commu 
nity,  must  necessarily  exist  in  all  nations,  whatever  their 
laws  and  customs  may  be  :  if  man  makes  monarchies,  and 
establishes  republics,  the  first  association  of  mankind  seems 
constituted  by  the  hand  of  God.  But  although  the  existence 
of  the  township  is  coeval  with  that  of  man,  its  liberties  are 
not  the  less  rarely  respected  and  easily  destroyed.  A  nation 
is  always  able  to  establish  great  political  assemblies,  because 
it  habitually  contains  a  certain  number  of  individuals  fitted 
by  their  talents,  if  not  by  their  habits,  for  the  direction  of 
affairs.  The  township  is,  on  the  contrary,  composed  of 
coarser  materials,  which  are  less  easily  fashioned  by  the 
legislator.  The  difficulties  which  attend  the  consolidation  of 
its  independence  rather  augment  than  diminish  with  the  in 
creasing  enlightenment  of  the  people.  A  highly-civilized 
community  spurns  the  attempts  of  a  local  independence,  is 
disgusted  at  its  numerous  blunders,  and  is  apt  to  despair  of 
success  before  the  experiment  is  completed.  Again,  no  im 
munities  are  so  ill-protected  from  the  encroachments  of  the 
supreme  power  as  those  of  municipal  bodies  in  general  :  they 
are  unable  to  struggle,  single-handed,  against  a  strong  or  an 
enterprising  government,  and  they  cannot  defend  their  cause 
with  success  unless  it  be  identified  with  the  customs  of  the 
nation  and  supported  by  public  opinion.  Thus,  until  the 
independence  of  townships  is  amalgamated  with  the  manner? 
of  a  people,  it  is  easily  destroyed ;  and  it  is  only  after  a  lon^ 
existence  in  the  laws  that  it  can  be  thus  amalgamated. 
Municipal  freedom  eludes  the  exertions  of  man  ;  it  is  rarely 
created  ;  but  it  is,  as  it  were,  secretly  and  spontaneously 

a  commune,  and  every  commune  is  governed  by  a  maire  and  a  conseil 
municipal.  In  other  words,  the  mancipium  or  municipal  privilege, 
which  belongs  in  England  to  chartered  corporations  alone,  is  alike 
extended  to  every  commune  into  which  the  cantons  and  departments 
of  France  were  divided  at  the  revolution.  Thence  the  different  appli 
cation  of  the  expression,  which  is  general  in  one  country  and  restricted 
in  the  other.  In  America,  the  counties  of  the  northern  states  are 
divided  into  townships,  those  of  the  southern  into  parishes  ;  besides 
which,  municipal  bodies,  bearing  the  name  of  corporations,  exist  in 
the  cities.  1  shall  apply  these  several  expressions  to  render  the  term 
commune.  The  word  "parish,"  now  commonly  used  in  England, 
belongs  exclusively  to  the  ecclesiastical  division;  it  denotes  the  limits 
over  which  a  parson's  (persona  ecclesice  or  perhaps  parochianus) 
rights  extend.—  Translator's 


=J 


58  NECESSITY    OF   EXAMINING   THE 

engendered  in  the  midst  of  a  semi-barbarous  state  of  society. 
The  constant  action  of  the  laws  and  the  national  habits, 
peculiar  circumstances,  and  above  all,  time,  jnay  consoli 
date  it ;  but  there  is  certainly  no  nation  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  which  has  experienced  its  advantages.  Neverthe 
less,  local  assemblies  of  citizens  constitute  the  strength  of 
free  nations.  Municipal  institutions  are  to  liberty  what 
primary  schools  are  to  science  ;  they  bring  it  within  the 
people's  reach,  they  teach  men  how  to  use  and  how  to  enjoy 
it.  A  nation  may  establish  a  system  of  free  government, 
but  without  the  spirit  of  municipal  institutions  it  cannot  have 
the  spirit  of  liberty.  The  transient  passions,  and  the  inte 
rests  of  an  hour,  or  the  chance  of  circumstances,  may  have 
created  the  external  forms  of  independence  ;  but  the  despotic 
tendency  which  has  been  repelled  will,  sooner  or  later,  inevi 
tably  reappear  on  the  surface. 

In  order  to  explain  to  the  reader  the  general  principles  on 
which  the  political  organisations  of  the  counties  and  town 
ships  of  the  United  States  rest,  I  have  thought  it  expedient 
to  choose  one  of  the  states  of  New  England  as  an  example, 
to  examine  the  mechanism  of  its  constitution,  and  then  to  cast 
a  general  glance  over  the  country.  '  • 

The  township  and  the  county  are  not  organized  in  the  same 
manner  in  every  part  of  the  Union ;  it  is,  however,  easy  to 
perceive  that  the  same  principles  have  guided  the  formation 
of  both  of  them  throughout  the  Union.  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  that  these  principles  have  been  carried  farther  in  New 
England  than  elsewhere,  and  consequently  that  they  offer 
greater  facilities  to  the  observations  of  a  stranger. 

The  institutions  of  New  England  form  a  complete  and 
regular  whole  ;  they  have  received  the  sanction  of  time,  they 
have  the  support  of  the  laws,  and  the  still  stronger  support  of 
the  manners  of  the  community,  over  which  they  exercise  the 
most  prodigious  influence  ;  they  consequently  deserve  our 
attention  on  every  account. 


LIMITS  OF  THE  TOWNSHIP. 

THE  township  of  New  England  is  a  divison  which  stands 
between  the  commune  and  the  canton  of  France,  and  which  cor 
responds  in  general  to  the  English  tithing,  or  town.  Its 
average  population  is  from  two  to  three  thousand  ;*  so  that, 

*  In  18  tO,  there  were  305  townships  in  the  state  of  Massachusetts, 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  59 

on  the  one  hand,  the  interests  of  the  inhabitants  are  not  likely 
to  conflict,  and,  on  the  other,  men  capable  of  conducting  its 
affairs  are  always  to  be  found  among  its  citizens. 


AUTHORITIES  OF  THE  TOWNSHIP  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  People  the  Source  of  all  Power  here  as  Elsewhere. — Manages  its 
own  Ailairs.  No  Corporation. — The  greater  p;irt  of  the  Authority 
vested  in  the  Hands  of  the  Selectmen. — How  the  Selectmen  act. 
Town -meeting. — Enumeration  of  the  public  Officers  of  the  Township. 
Obligatory  and  remunerated  Functions. 

IN  the  township,  as  well  as  everywhere  else,  the  people  is 
the  only  source  of  power  ;  but  in  no  stage  of  government  does 
the  body  of  citizens  exercise  a  more  immediate  influence. 
In  America,  the  people  is  a  master  wiiose  exigences  demand 
obedience  to  the  utmost  limits  of  possibility. 

In  New  England  the  majority  acts  by  representatives  in 
the  conduct  of  the  public  business  of  the  state  ;  but  if  such 
an  arrangement  be  necessary  in  general  affairs,  in  the  town 
ship,  where  the  legislative  and  administrative  action  of  the 
government  is  in  more  immediate  contact  with  the  subject, 
the  system  of  representation  is  not  adopted.  There  is  no 
corporation ;  but  the  body  of  electors,  after  having  designated 
its  magistrates,  directs  them  in  anything  that  exceeds  the 
simple  and  ordinary  executive  business  of  the  state.* 

This  state  of  things  is  so  contrary  to  our  ideas,  and  so 
different  from  our  customs,  that  it  is  necessary  for  me  to 
adduce  some  examples  to  explain  it  thoroughly. 

The  public  duties  in  the  township  are  extremely  numerous 
and  minutely,  divided,  as  we  shall  see  farther  on  ;  but  the 
large  proportion  of  administrative  power  is  vested  in  the  hands 
of  a  small  number  of  individuals  called  "the  selectmen,  "f 

The  general  laws  of  the  state  impose  a  certain  number  of 
obligations  on  the  selectmen,  which  may  they  fulfil  without 

and  610,014  inhabitants ;  which  gives  an  average  of  about  2,000  inhabi 
tants  to  each  township. 

*  The  same  rules  are  not  applicable  to  the  great  towns,  which 
generally  have  a  mayor,  and  a  corporation  divided  into  two  bodies ; 
this,  howrever,  is  an  exception  which  requires  a  sanction  of  a  law.  See 
the  act  of  22d  February.  1822,  for  appointing  the  authorities  of  the  city 
of  Boston.  It  frequently  happens  that  small  towns  as  well  as  cities  are 
subject  to  a  peculiar  administration.  In  1832,  104  townships  in  the 
state  of  New  York  were  governed  in  this  manner. —  Williams' s  Re- 
gistfr. 

t  Three  selectmen  are  appointed  in  the  small  townships,  and  nine  in 


60  NECESSITY   OF   EXAMINING   THE 

the  authorization  of  the  body  they  govern,  but  which  they  can 
only  neglect  on  their  own  responsibility.  The  law  of  the 
state  obliges  them,  for  instance,  to  draw  up  the  list  of  electors 
in  the  townships  ;  and  if  they  omit  this  part  of  their  functions, 
they  are  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor.  In  all  the  affairs,  how 
ever,  which  are  determined  by  the  town-meeting,  the  select 
men  are  the  organs  of  the  popular  mandate,  as  in  France  the 
maire  executes  the  decree  of  the  municipal  council.  They 
usually  act  upon  their  own  responsibility,  and  merely  put  in 
practice  principles  which  have  been  previously  recognised  by 
the  majority.  But  if  any  change  is  to  be  introduced  in  the 
existing  state  of  things,  or  if  they  wish  to  undertake  any  new 
enterprise,  they  are  obliged  to  refer  to  the  source  of  their 
power.  If,  for  instance,  a  school  is  to  be  established,  the 
selectmen  convoke  the  whole  body  of  electors  on  a  certain 
day  at  an  appointed  place ;  they  explain  the  urgency  of  the 
case  ;  they  give  their  opinion  on  the  means  of  satisfying  it, 
on  the  probable  expense,  and  the  site  which  seems  to  be  most 
favorable.  The  meeting  is  consulted  on  these  several  points  ; 
it  adopts  the  principle,  marks  out  the  site,  votes  the  rate,  and 
confides  the  execution  of  its  resolution  to  the  selectmen. 

The  selectmen  alone  have  the  right  of  calling  a  town- 
meeting  ;  but  they  may  be  requested  to  do  so  :  if  the  citizens 
are  desirous  of  submitting  a  new  project  to  the  assent  of  the 
township,  they  may  demand  a  general  convocation  of  the 
inhabitants  ;  the  selectmen  are  obliged  to  comply,  but  they 
have  only  the  right  of  presiding  at  the  meeting.* 

The  selectmen  are  elected  every  year  in  the  month  of 
April  or  of  May.  The  town-meeting  chooses  at  the  same  time 
a  number  of  municipal  magistrates,  who  are  intrusted  with 
important  administrative  functions.  The  assessors  rate  the 
township  ;  the  collectors  receive  the  rate.  A  constable  is 
appointed  to  keep  the  peace,  to  watch  the  streets,  and  to  for 
ward  the  execution  of  the  laws  ;  the  town-clerk  records  all 
the  town  votes,  orders,  grants,  births,  deaths,  and  marriages  ; 
the  treasurer  keeps  the  funds  ;  the  overseer  of  the  poor  per 
forms  the  difficult  task  of  superintending  the  action  of  the 
poor  laws  ;  committee-men  are  appointed  to  attend  to  the 

the  large  ones.  See  "  The  Town  Officer,"  p.  186.  See  also  the  princi 
pal  laws  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts  relative  to  the  selectmen  : — 

Act  of  the  20th  February,  1786,  vol.  i.,  p.  219;  24th  February, 
1796,  vol.  i.,  p.  488,  7th  Marrh,  1801,  vol.  ii.,  p.  45;  16th  June,  1795, 
vol.  i.,  p.  475  ;  12th  March,  1808,  vol.  ii.,  p.  186  ;  28th  February,  1787, 
vol.  i.,  p.  302;  22d  June,  1797,  vol.  i/,  p.  539. 

*  See  laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  i.,  p.  150.  Act  of  the  25th  March, 
1786. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  61 

schools  and  to  public  instruction  ;  and  the  road-surveyors, 
who  take  care  of  the  greater  and  lesser  thoroughfares  of  the 
township,  complete  the  list  of  the  principal  functionaries. 
They  are,  however,  still  farther  subdivided  ;  and  among  the 
municipal  officers  are  to  be  found  parish  commissioners,  who 
audit  the  expenses  of  public  worship  ;  different  classes  of 
inspectors,  some  of  whom  are  to  direct  the  citizens  in  case 
of  fire  ;  tithing-men,  listers,  haywards,  chimney- viewers, 
fence-viewers  to  maintain  the  bounds  of  property,  timber- 
measurers,  and  sealers  of  weights  and  measures.* 

There  are  nineteen  principal  offices  in  a  township.  Every 
inhabitant  is  constrained,  on  pain  of  being  fined,  to  undertake 
these  different  functions  ;  which,  however,  are  almost  all  paid, 
in  order  that  the  poor  citizens  may  be  able  to  give  up  their  time 
without  loss.  In  general  the  American  system  is  not  to  grant 
a  fixed  salary  to  its  functionaries.  Every  service  has  its 
price,  and  they  are  remunerated  in  proportion  to  what  they 
have  done. 


EXISTENCE  OF  THE  TOWNSHIP. 

Every  one  the  best  Judge  of  his  own  Interest. — Corollary  of  the  Princi 
ple  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  People. — Application  of  these  Doctrines 
in  the  Townships  of  America. — The  Township  of  New  England  is 
Sovereign  in  that  which  concerns  itself  alone  ;  subject  to  the  State 
in  all  other  matters. — Bond  of  Township  and  the  State. — In  France 
the  Government  lends  its  Agents  to  the  Commune. — In  America  the 
Reverse  occurs. 

I  HAVE  already  observed,  that  the  principle  of  the  sovereign 
ty  of  the  people  governs  the  whole  political  system  of  the 
Anglo-Americans.  Every  page  of  this  book  will  afford 
new  instances  of  the  same  doctrine.  In  the  nations  by  which 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people  is  recognised,  every  individual 
possesses  an  equal  share  of  power,  and  participates  alike  in 
the  government  of  the  state.  Every  individual  is  therefore 
supposed  to  be  as  well  informed,  as  virtuous,  and  as  strong, 
as  any  of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  obeys  the  government,  not 
because  he  is  inferior  to  the  authorities  which  conduct  it,  or 
that  he  is  less  capable  than  his  neighbor  of  governing  himself, 

*  All  these  magistrates  actually  exist;  their  different  functions  are 
all  detailed  in  a  book  called,  "  The  Town  Officer,"  by  Isaac  Goodwin, 
Worcester,  1827;  and  in  the  Collection  of  the  General  Laws  of  Massa 
chusetts,  3  vols.,  Boston,  1823. 


62  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING    THE 

but  because  he  acknowledges  the  utility  of  an  association  with 
his  fellow-men,  and  because  he  knows  that  no  such  associa- 
/  tion  can  exist  without  a  regulating  force.     If  he  be  a  subject 
[    in  all  that  concerns  the  mutual  relations  of  citizens,  he  is  free 
I    and  responsible  to  God  alone  for  all  that  concerns  himself/ 
Hence  arises  the  maxim  that  every  one  is  the  best  and  the 
|   sole  judge  of  his  own  private  interest,  and  that  society  has  no  1 
1    right  to  control  a  man's  actions,  unless  they  are  prejudicial  { 
to  the.  common  weal,  or  unless  the  common  weal  demands  his 
co-operation.  j  This  doctrine  is  universally  admitted  in  the  I 
United  States.     I  shall  hereafter  examine  the  general  influence  * 
which  it  exercises  on  the  ordinary  actions  of  life  :  I  am  now 
-    speaking  of  the  nature  of  municipal  bodies. 

The  township,  taken  as  a  whole,  and  in  relation  to  the 
government  of'the  country,  may  be  looked  upon  as  an  indi 
vidual  to  whom  the  theory  I  have  just  alluded  to  is  applied. 
/  Municipal  independence  is  therefore  a  natural  consequence  j 
of  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  in  the  United 
States ,  all  the  American  republics  recognise  it  more  or  less ; 
but  circumstances  have  peculiarly  favored  its  growth  in  New 
England. 

In  this  part  of  the  Union  the  impulsion  of  political  activity 
was  given  'in  the  townships  ;  and  it  may  almost  be  said  that 
each  of  them  originally  formed  an  independent  nation.  When 
the  kings  of  England  asserted  their  supremacy,  they  were 
contented  to  assume  the  central  power  of  the  state.  The 
townships  of  New  England  remained  as  they  were  before  ; 
and  although  they  are  now  subject  to  the  state,  they  were  at 
first  scarcely  dependent  upon  it.  It  is  important  to  remember 
that  they  have  not  been  invested  with  privileges,  but  that  they 
seem,  on  the  contrary,  to  have  surrendered  a  portion  of  their 
independence  to  the  state.  The  townships  are  only  subordi 
nate  to  the  state  in  those  interests  which  I  shall  term  social, 
as  they  are  common  to  all  the  citizens.  They  are  indepen 
dent  in  all  that  concerns  themselves ;  and  among  the  inhabit 
ants  of  New  England  I  believe  that  not  a  man  is  to  be  found 
who  would  acknowledge  that  the  state  has  any  right  to  inter- 
/  fere  in  their  local  interests.  The  towns  of  New  England  buy 
*  and  sell,  prosecute  or  are  indicted,  augment  or  diminish  their 
rates,  without  the  slightest  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  ad 
ministrative  authority  of  the  state 

They  are  bound,  however,  to  comply  with  the  demands  of 
the  community.  If  the  state  is  in  need  of  money,  a  town  can 
neither  give  nor  withhold  the  supplies.  If  the  state  projects  a 
road,  the  township  cannot  refuse  to  let  it  cross  its  territory ; 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  63 

if  a  police  regulation  is  made  by  the  state,  it  must  be  enforced 
by  the  town.  A  uniform  system  of  instruction  is  organised  > 
all  over  the  country,  and  every  town  is  bound  to  establish  the  ) 
schools  which  the  law  ordains.  In  speaking  of  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  United  States,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  point  out 
the  means  by  which  the  townships  are  compelled  to  obey  in 
these  different  cases  :  I  here  merely  show  the  existence  of 
the  obligation.  Strict  as  this  obligation  is,  the  government 
of  the  state  imposes  it  in  principle  only,  and  in  its  perform 
ance  the  township  resumes  all  its  independent  rights.  Thus, 
taxes  are  voted  by  the  state,  but  they  are  assessed  and  col 
lected  by  the  township  ;  the  existence  of  a  school  is  obliga 
tory,  but  the  township  builds,  pays,  and  superintends  it.  In 
France  the  state  collector  receives  the  local  imposts ;  in 
America  the  town  collector  receives  the  taxes  of  the  state. 
Thus  the  French  government  lends  its  agents  to  the  commune  ; 

;  in  America,  the  township  is  the  agent  of  the  government. 

.  This  fact  alone  shows  the  extent  of  the  differences  which  exist 
between  the  two  nations. 


PUBLIC    SPIRIT    OF    THE    TOWNSHIPS    OF    NEW   ENGLAND. 

How  the  Township  of  New  England  wins  the  Affections  of  its  Inhabit 
ants. — Difficulty  of  creating  local  public  Spirit  in  Europe. — The 
Rights  and  Duties  of  the  American  Township  favorable  to  it. — Cha 
racteristics  of  Home  in  the  United  States. — Manifestations  of  public 
Spirit  in  New  England. — Its  happy  Effects. 

IN  America,  not  only  do  municipal  bodies  exist,  but  they  are 
kept  alive  and  supported  by  public  spirit.     The  township  of 
New  England  possesses  two  advantages  which    infallibly 
[  secure  the  attentive  interest  of  mankind,  namely,  independ- 
';  ence  and  authority.     Its  sphere  is  indeed  small  and  limited, 
but  within  that  sphere  its  action  is  unrestrained  ;  and  its  in 
dependence  would  give  to  it  a  real  importance,  even  if  its 
extent  and  population  did  not  ensure  it. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  affections  of  men  are  gene- 

,   rally  turned  only  where  there  is  strength.     Patriotism  is  not 

j  durable  in  a  conquered  nation.     The    New  Englander   is 

'•  attached  to  his  township,  not  only  because  he  was  born  in  it, 

but  because  it  constitutes  a  strong  and  free  social  body  of 

which  he  is  a  member,  and  whose  government  claims  and 

deserves  the  exercise  of  his  sagacity.    In  Europe,  the  absence 

of  local  public  spirit  is  a  frequent  subject  of  regret  to  those 


64  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING   THE 

who  are  in  power ;  every  one  agrees  that  there  is  no  surer 
guarantee  of  order  and  tranquillity,  and  yet  noihing  is  more 
difficult  to  create.  If  the  municipal  bodies  were  made  pow 
erful  and  independent,  the  authorities  of  the  nation  might  be 
disunited,  and  the  peace  of  the  country  endangered.  Yet, 
without  power  and  independence,  a  town  may  contain  good 
subjects,  but  it  can  have  no  active  citizens.  Another  impor 
tant  fact  is,  that  the  township  of  New  England  is  so  consti 
tuted  as  to  excite  the  warmest  of  human  affections,  without 
arousing  the  ambitious  passions  of  the  heart  of  man.  The 
officers  of  the  county  are  not  elected,  and  their  authority  is 
nvery  limited.  Even  the  state  is  only  a  second-rate  commu- 
*lnity,  whose  tranquil  and  obscure  administration  offers  no 
^inducement  sufficient  to  draw  men  away  from  the  circle  of 
(their  interests  into  the  turmoil  of  public  affairs.  The  federal 
government  confers  power  and  honor  on  the  men  who  con 
duct  it ;  but  these  individuals  can  never  be  very  numerous. 
The  high  station  of  the  presidency  can  only  be  reached  at  an 
advanced  period  of  life ;  and  the  other  federal  functionaries 
are  generally  men  who  have  been  favored  by  fortune,  or  dis 
tinguished  in  some  other  career.  Such  cannot  be  the  perma 
nent  aim  of  the  ambitious.  But  the  township  serves  as  a 
centre  for  the  desire  of  public  esteem,  the  want  of  exciting 
\  interests,  and  the  taste  for  authority  and  popularity,  in  the 
midst  of  the  ordinary  relations  of  life  :  and  the  passions  which 
commonly  embroil  society,  change  their  character  when  they 
find  a  vent  so  near  the  domestic  hearth  and  the  family  circle. 
In  the  American  states  power  has  been  disseminated  with 
admirable  skill,  for  the  purpose  of  interesting  the  greatest 
possible  number  of  persons  in  the  common  weal.  Indepen 
dently  of  the  electors  who  are  from  time  to  time  called  into 
action,  the  body  politic  is  divided  into  innumerable  function 
aries  and  officers,  who  all,  in  their  several  spheres,  represent 
the  same  powerful  corporation  in  whose  name  they  act.  The 
local  admintstration  thus  affords  an  unfailing  source  of  profit 
and  interest  to  a  vast  number  of  individuals. 

The  American  system,  which  divides  the  local  authority 

among  so  many  citizens,  does  not  scruple  to  multiply  the 

functions  of  the  town  officers.     For  in  the  United  States,  it  is 

(  believed,  and  with  truth,  that  patriotism  is  a  kind  of  devotion, 

^  which  is  strengthened  by  ritual  observance.     In  this  manner 

the  activity  of  the  township  is  continually  perceptible  ;   it  is 

daily  manifested  in  the  fulfilment  of  a  duty,  or  the  exercise 

of  a  right ;  and  a  constant  though  gentle  motion  is  thus,  kept 

up  in  society  which  animates  without  disturbing  it. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  65 

The  American  attaches  himself  to  his  home,  as  the  moun 
taineer  clings  to  his  hills,  because  the  characteristic  features 
of  his  country  are  there  more  distinctly  marked  than  else 
where.  The  existence  of  the  townships  of  New  England  is 
in  general  a  happy  one.  Their  government  is  suited  to  their 
tastes,  and  chosen  by  themselves.  In  the  midst, of  the.  pro 
found  peace  and  general  comfort  which  reign  in  America, 
the  commotions  of  municipal  discord  are  infrequent.  The 
conduct  of  local  business  is  easy.  The  politicaf  educatiori 
of  the  people  has  long  been  complete  ;  say  rather  that  it  was 
complete  when  the  people  first  set  foot  upon  the  soil.  In  New 
England  no  tradition  exists  of  a  distinction  of  ranks  ;  no  por 
tion  of  the  community  is  tempted  to  oppress  the  remainder  ; 
and  the  abuses  which  may  injure  isolated  individuals  are  for 
gotten  in  the  general  contentment  which  prevails.  If  the 
government  is  defective  (and  it  would  no  doubt  be  easy  to 
point  out  its  deficiencies),  the  fact  that  it  really  emanates 
from  those  it  governs,  and  that  it  acts,  either  ill  or  well,  casts 
the  protecting  spell  of  a  parental  pride  over  its  faults.  No 
term  of  comparison  disturbs  the  satisfaction  of  the  citizen : 
England  formerly  governed  the  mass  of  the  colonies,  but  the 
people  was  always  sovereign  in  the  township,  where  its  rule 
is  not  only  an  ancient,  but  a  primitive  state. 

The  native  of  New  England  is  attached  to  his  township 
because  it  is  independent  and  free ;  his  co-operation  in  its 
affairs  ensures  his  attachment  to  its  interest ;  the  well-being 
it  affords  him  secures  his  affection  ;  and  its  welfare  is  the 
aim  of  his  ambition  and  of  his  future  exertions  ;  he  takes  a 
part  in  every  occurrence  in  the  place ;  he  practises  the  art 
of  government  in  the  small  sphere  within  his  reach  ;  he  ac 
customs  himself  to  those  forms  which  can  alone  ensure  the 
steady  progress  of  liberty ;  he  imbibes  their  spirit ;  he  ac 
quires  a  taste  for  order,  comprehends  the  union  of  the  balance 
of  powers,  and  collects  clear  practical  notions  on  the  nature 
of  his  duties  and  the  extent  of  his  rights. 


THE    COUNTIES    OF    NEW   ENGLAND. 

THE  division  of  the  counties  in  America  has  considerable 
analogy  with  that  of  the  arrondissements  of  France.  The 
limits  of  the  counties  are  arbitrarily  laid  down,  and  the 
various  districts  which  they  contain  have  no  necessary  con 
nexion,  no  common  traditional  or  natural  sympathy  ;  their 


66^  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING    THE 

object  is  simply  to  facilitate  the  administration  of  public 
affairs. 

The  extent  of  the  township  was  too  small  to  contain  a 
system  of  judicial  institutions ;  each  county  has,  however, 
a  court  of  justice,*  a  sheriff  to  execute  its  decrees,  and  a 
prison  for  criminals.  There  are  certain  wants  which  are 
felt  alike  by  all  the  townships  of  a  county;  it  is  therefore 
natural  that  they  should  be  satisfied  by  a  central  authority. 
In  the  state  of  Massachusetts  this  authority  is  vested  in  the 
hands  of  several  magistrates  who  are  appointed  by  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  state,  with  the  advicef  of  his  council  4  The 
officers  of  the  county  have  only  a  limited  and  occasional 
.authority,  which  is  applicable  to  certain  predetermined  cases. 
The  state  and  the  townships  possess  all  the  power  requisite 
to  conduct  public  business.  The  budget  of  the  county  is 
only  drawn  up  by  its  officers,  and  is  voted  by  the  legisla 
ture. §  There  is  no  assembly  which  directly  or  indirectly 
represents  the  county ;  it  has,  therefore,  properly  speaking, 
no  political  existence. 

>A  twofold  tendency  may  be  discerned  in  the  American 
constitutions,  which'  impels  the  legislator  to  centralize  the 
legislative,  and  to  disperse  the  executive  power.  The  town 
ship  of  New  England  has  in  itself  an  indestructible  element 
of  independence  ;  but  this  distinct  existence  could  only  be 
fictitiously  introduced  into  the  county,  where  its  i  utility  had 
not  been  felt.  All  the  townships  united  have  but  one  repre 
sentation,  which  is  the  state,  the  centre  of  the  national  autho 
rity  :  beyond  the  action  of  the  township  and  that  of  the  nation, 
nothing  can  be  said  to  exist  but  the  influence  of  individual 
exertion. 

*  See  the  act  of  14th  February,  1821.  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol. 
i.,p.  551. 

f  See  the  act  of  20th  February,  1819.  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol 
ii.,  p.  494. 

J  The  council  of  the  governor  is  an  elective  body. 

§  See  the  act  of  2d  November,  1791.  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol 
i.,p.GL 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  67 


ADMINISTRATION    IN    NEW    ENGLAND. 

Administration  not  perceived  in  America. — Why  ? — The  Europeans 
believe  that  Liberty  is  promoted  by  depriving  the  social  Authority 
of  some  of  its  Rights  ;  the  Americans,  by  dividing  its  Exercise. — 
Almost  all  the  Administration  confined  to  the  Township,  and  divided 
among  the  town  Officers. — No  trace  of  an  administrative  Hierarchy 
to  be  perceived  either  in  the  Township,  or  above  it. — The  Reason 
of  this. — How  it  happens  that  the  Administration  of  the  State  ig 
uniform. — Who  is  empowered  to  enforce  the  Obedience  of  the  Town 
ship  and  the  County  to  the  Law. — The  introduction  of  judicial 
Power  into  the  Administration. — Consequence  of  the  Extension  of 
the  elective  Principle  to  all  Functionaries. — The  Justice  of  the  Peace 
in  New  England. — By  whom  Appointed. — County  Officer. — Ensures 
the  Administration  of  the  Townships. — Court  of  Sessions. — Its  Ac 
tion. — Right  of  Inspection  and  Indictment  disseminated  like  the 
other  administrative  Functions. — Informers  encouraged  by  the  divi 
sion  of  Fines. 

NOTHING  is  more  striking  to  a  European  traveller  in  the 
/  United  States  than  the  absence  of  what  we  term  government, 
>  or  the  administration.  Written  laws  exist  in  America,  and 
one  sees  that  they  are  daily  executed  ;  but  although  every- 
j  thing  is  in  motion,  the  hand  which  givdfc  the  impulse  to  the 
social  machine  can  nowhere  be  discovered.  Nevertheless, 
as  all  people  are  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  certain  gram 
matical  forms,  which  are  the  foundation  of  human  language, 
in  order  to  express  their  thoughts  ;  so  all  communities  are 
obliged  to  secure  their  existence  by  submitting  to  a  certain 
portion  of  authority,  without  which  they  fall  a  prey  to 
anarchy.  This  authority  may  be  distributed  in  several 
ways,  but  it  must  always  exist  somewhere. 

There  are  two  methods  of  diminishing  the  force  of  autho 
rity  in  a  nation. 

The  first  is  to  weaken  the  supreme  power  in  its  very  prin 
ciple,  by  forbidding  or  preventing  society  from  acting  in  its 
own  defence  under  certain  circumstances.  To  weaken  au 
thority  in  this  manner  is  what  is  generally  termed  in  Europe 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  freedom. 

The  second  manner  of  diminishing  the  influence  of  autho 
rity  does  not  consist  in  stripping  society  of  any  of  its  rights, 
nor  in  paralysing  its  efforts,  but  in  distributing  the  exercise 
of  its  privileges  among  various  hands,  and  in  multiplying 
functionaries,  to  each  of  whom  the  degree  of  power  necessary 
for  him  to  perform  his  duty  is  intrusted.  There  may  be 
nations  whom  this  distribution  of  social  powers  might  lead  to 
anarchy  ;  but  in  itself  it  is  not  anarchical.  The  action  of 
authority  is  indeed  thus  rendered  less  irresistible,  and  loss 
perilous,  but  it  is  not  totally  suppressed. 


68  «  NECESSITY   OF    EXAMINING   THE 

The  revolution  of  the  United  States  was  the  result  of  a 
mature  and  deliberate  taste  for  freedom,  not  of  a  vague  or 
ill-defined  craving  for  independence.  It  contracted  no  alli- 
ance  with  the  turbulent  passions  of  anarchy ;  but  its  course 
was  marked,  on  the  contrary,  by  an  attachment  to  whatever 
was  lawful  and  orderly. 

v;  It  was  never  assumed  in  the  United  States  that  the  citizen 
qf  a  free  country  has  a  right  to  do  whatever  he  pleases  :  on 
the  contrary,  social  obligations  were  there  imposed  upon  him 
more  various  than  anywhere  else ;  no  idea  was  ever  enter- 
tained  of  attacking  the  principles,  or  of  contesting  the  rights 
of  society  ;  but  the  exercise  of  its  authority  was  divided,  to 

*  the  end  that  the  office  might  be  powerful  and  the  officer  insig 
nificant,  and  that  the  community  should  be  at  once  regulated 
and  free.'  '  In  no  country  in  the  world  does  the  law  hold  so 
absolute  a  language  as  in  America  ;  and  in  no  country  is  the 
right  of  applying  it  vested  in  so  many  hands.  The  adminis 
trative  power  in  the  United  States  presents  nothing  either 
central  or  hierarchical  in  its  constitution,  which  accounts  for 
its  passing  unperceived.  The  power  exists,  but  its  repre 
sentative  is  not  to  be  discerned. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  independent  townships  of 
New  England  protect  their  own  private  interests ;  and  the 
municipal  magistrates  are  the  persons  to  whom  the  execution 
of  the  laws  of  the  state  is  most  frequently  intrusted.*  Be 
side  the  general  laws,  the  state  sometimes  passes  general 
police  regulations ;  but  more  commonly  the  townships  and 
town  officers,  conjointly  with  the  justices  of  the  peace,  regu 
late  the  minor  details  of  social  life,  according  to  the  necessi 
ties  of  the  different  localities,  and  promulgate  such  enact 
ments  as  concern  the  health  of  the  community,  and  the  peace 
as  well  as  morality  of  the  citizens. f  Lastly,  these  municipal 
magistrates  provide  of  their  own  accord  and  without  any 


*  See  "The  Town  Officer,"  especially  at  the  words  SELECTMEN, 
ASSESSORS,  COLLECTORS,  SCHOOLS,  SURVEYORS  OF  HIGHWAYS.  I 
take  one  example  in  a  thousand  :  the  state  prohibits  travelling  on  a 
Sunday ;  the  tything-men,  who  are  town-officers,  are  especially 
charged  to  keep  watch  and  to  execute  the  law.  See  the  laws  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  vol.  i.,  p.  410. 

The  selectmen  draw  up  the  lists  of  electors  for  the  election  of  the 
governor,  and  transmit  the  result  of  the  ballot  to  the  secretary  of  the 
state.  See  act  of  24th  February,  1796  ;  lb.,  vol.  i.,  p.  488. 

f  Thus,  for  instance,  the  selectmen  authorise  the  construction  of 
drains,  point  out.  the  proper  sites  for  slaughter-houses  and  other  trades 
which  are  a  nuisance  to  the  neighborhood.  See  the  act  of  7th  June, 
1785;  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  i.,  p.  193. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  69 

delegated  powers,  for  those  unforeseen  emergencies  which 
frequently  occur  in  society.* 

It  results,  from  what  we  have  said,  that  in  the  state  of 
Massachusetts  the  administrative  authority  is  almost  entirely 
restricted  to  the  township, f  but  that  it  is  distributed  among  a 
great  number  of  individuals.  In  the  French  commune  there 
is  properly  but  one  official  functionary,  namely,  the  maire ; 
and  in  New  England  we  have  seen  that  there  are  nineteen. 
These  nineteen  functionaries  do  not  in  general  depend  upon 
one  another.  The  law  carefully  prescribes  a  circle  of  action 
to  each  of  these  magistrates  ;  and  within  that  circle  they 
have  an  entire  right  to  perform  their  functions  independently 
of  any  other  authority.  Above  the  township  scarcely  any 
trace  of  a  series  of  official  dignities  is  to  be  found.  It  some 
times  happens  that  the  county  officers  alter  a  decision  of  the 
townships,  or  town  magistrates,^:  but  in  general  the  authori 
ties  of  the  county  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  authori 
ties  of  the  township,§  except  in  such  matters  as  concern  the 
county. 

The  magistrates  of  the  township,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
county,  are  bound  to  communicate  their  acts  to  the  central 
government  in  a  very  small  number  of  predetermined  cases.  || 
But  the  central  government  is  not  represented  by  an  indi 
vidual  whose  business  it  is  to  publish  police  regulations  and 
ordinances  enforcing  the  execution  of  the  laws ;  to  keep  up 

*  The  selectmen  take  measures  for  the  security  of  the  public  in 
case  of  contagious  disease,  conjointly  with  the  justices  of  the  peace. 
See  the  act  of  22d  June,  1797  ;  vol.  i.,  p.  539. 

f  I  say  almost,  for  there  are  various  circumstances  in  the  annals  of 
a  township  which  are  regulated  by  the  justice  of  the  peace  in  his  indi 
vidual  capacity,  or  by  the  justices  of  the  peace,  assembled  in  the  chief 
town  of  the  county  ;  thus  licenses  are  granted  by  the  justices.  See 
the  act  of  28th  Feb.,  17S7  ;  vol.  i.,  p.  297. 

\  Thus  licenses  are  only  granted  to  such  persons  as  can  produce  a 
certificate  of  good  conduct  from  the  selectmen.  If  the  selectmen 
refuse  to  give  the  certificate,  the  party  may  appeal  to  the  justices 
assembled  in  the  court  of  sessions ;  and  they  may  grant  the  license. 
See  the  act  of  12th  March,  1808;  vol.  ii.,  p.  186. 

The  townships  have  the  right  to  make  by-laws,  and  to  enforce  them 
by  fines  which  are  fixed  by  law ;  but  these  by-laws  must  be  approved 
by  the  court  of  sessions.  See  the  act  of  23d  March,  1786  ;  vol.  i.,  p. 
254. 

§  In  Massachusetts  the  county-magistrates  are  frequently  called  upon 
to  investigate  the  acts  of  the  town-magistrates;  but  it  will  be  shown 
farther  on  that  this  investigation  is  a  consequence,  not  of  their  admin 
istrative,  but  of  their  judicial  power. 

||  The  town  committees  of  schools  are  obliged  to  make  an  annual 
report  to  the  secretary  of  the  state  on  the  condition  of  the  School.  See 
the  act  of  10th  March,  1827;  vol.  iii.,  p.  183. 


70  NECESSITY    OF   EXAMINING    THE 

a  regular  communication  with  the  officers  of  the  township 
and  the  county  ;  to  inspect  their  conduct,  to  direct  their 
actions,  or  reprimand  their  faults.  There  is  no  point  which 
serves  as  a  centre  to  the  radii  of  the  administration. 

What,  then,  is  the  uniform  plan  on  which  the  government 
is  conducted,  and  how  is  the  compliance  of  the  counties  and 
their  magistrates,  or  the  townships  and  their  officers,  enforc 
ed  ?  In  the  states  of  New  England  the  legislative  authority 
embraces  more  subjects  than  it  does  in  France  ;  the  legisla 
tor  penetrates  to  the  very  core  of  the  administration  ;  the  law 
descends  to  the  most  minute  details  ;  the  same  enactment  pre 
scribes  the  principle  and  the  method  of  its  application,  and 
thus  imposes  a  multitude  of  strict  and  rigorously  defined  ob 
ligations  on  the  secondary  functionaries  of  the  state.  The 
consequence  of  this  is,  that  if  all  the  secondary  functionaries 
of  the  administration  conform  to  the  law,  society  in  all  its 
branches  proceeds  with  the  greatest  uniformity  ;  the  difficulty 
remains  of  compelling  the  secondary  functionaries  of  the  ad 
ministration  to  conform  to  the  law.  It  may  be  affirmed  that, 
in  general,  society  has  only  two  methods  of  enforcing  the 
execution  of  the  laws  at  its  disposal  ;  a  discretionary  power 
may  be  intrusted  to  a  superior  functionary  of  directing  all 
the  others,  and  of  cashiering  them  in  case  of  disobedience ; 
or  the  courts  of  justice  may  be  authorized  to  inflict  judicial 
penalties  on  the  offender:  but  these  two  methods  are  not 
always  available. 

The  right  of  directing  a  civil  officer  pre-supposes  that  of 
cashiering  him  if  he  does  not  obey  orders,  and  of  rewarding 
him  by  promotion  if  he  fulfils  his  duties  with  propriety.  But 
an  elected  magistrate  can  neither  be  cashiered  nor  promoted. 
All  elective  functions  are  inalienable  until  their  term  is  ex 
pired.  In  fact,  the  elected  magistrate  has  nothing  either  to 
expect  or  to  fear  from  his  constituents  ;  and  when  all  public 
offices  are  filled  by  ballot,  there  can  be  no  series  of  official 
dignities,  because  the  double  right  of  commanding  and  of  en 
forcing  obedience  can  never  be  vested  in  the  same  individual, 
and  because  the  power  of  issuing  an  order  can  never  be  join 
ed  to  that  of  inflicting  a  punishment  or  bestowing  a  reward. 

The  communities  therefore  in  which  the  secondary  func 
tionaries  of  the  government  are  elected,  are  perforce  obliged 
to  make  great  use  of  judicial  penalties  as  a  means  of  admi 
nistration.  This  is  not  evident  at  first  sight ;  for  those  in 
power  are  apt  to  look  upon  the  institution  of  elective  func 
tionaries  as  one  concession,  and  the  subjection  of  the  elective 
magistrate  to  the  judges  of  the  land  as  another.  They  are 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  71 

equally  averse  to  both  these  innovations ;  and  as  they  are 
more  pressingly  solicited  to  grant  the  former  than  the  latter, 
they  accede  to  the  election  of  the  magistrate,  and  leave  him 
independent  of  the  judicial  power.  Nevertheless,  the  second 
of  these  measures  is  the  only  thing  that  can  possibly  counter 
balance  the  first ;  and  it  will  be  found  that  an  elective  au 
thority  which  is  not  subject  to  judicial  power  will,  sooner  or 
later,  either  elude  all  control  or  be  destroyed.  The  courts  of 
justice  are  the  only  possible  medium  between  the  central 
power  and  the  administrative  bodies  ;  they  alone  can  compel 
the  elected  functionary  to  obey,  without  violating  the  rights 
of  the  elector.  The  extension  of  judicial  power  in  the 
political  world  ought  therefore  to  be  in  the  exact  ratio  of  the 
extension  of  elective  offices ;  if  these  two  institutions  do  not 
go  hand  in  hand,  the  state  must  fall  into  anarchy  or  into  sub 
jection. 

It  has  always  been  remarked  that  habits  of  legal  business 
do  not  render  men  apt  to  the  exercise  of  administrative  author 
ity.  The  Americans  have  borrowed  from  the  English,  their 
fathers,  the  idea  of  an  institution  which  is  unknown  upon  the 
continent  of  Europe :  I  allude  to  that  of  justices  of  the 
peace. 

The  justice  of  the  peace  is  a  sort  of  ?nezzo  termine  between 
the  magistrate  and  the  man  of  the  world,  between  the  civil 
officer  and  the  judge.  A  justice  of  the  peace  is  a  well-in 
formed  citizen,  though  he  is  not  necessarily  versed  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  laws.  His  office  simply  obliges  him  to  exe 
cute  the  police  regulations  of  society  ;  a  task  in  which  good 
sense  and  integrity  are  of  more  avail  than  legal  science. 
The  justice  introduces  into  the  administration  a  certain  taste 
for  established  forms  and  publicity,  which  renders  him  a  most 
unserviceable  instrument  of  despotism  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  is  not  blinded  by  those  superstitions  which  render 
legal  officers  unfit  members  of  a  government.  The  Ameri 
cans  have  adopted  the  system  of  English  justices  of  the 
peace,  but  they  have  deprived  it  of  that  aristocratic  character 
which  is  discernible  in  the  mother-country.  The  governor  of 
Massachusetts*  appoints  a  certain  number  of  justices  of  the 
peace  in  every  county,  whose  functions  last  seven  years. f 
He  farther  designates  three  individuals  from  among  the  whole 
<v 

*  We  shall  hereafter  learn  what  a  governor  is;  I  shall  content  my 
self  with  remarking  in  this  place,  that  he  represents  the  executive 
power  of  the  whole  state. 

t  See  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  chap,  ii.,  §  1 ;  chap,  iii., 
§  3. 


72  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING   THE 

body  of  justices,  who  form  in  each  county  what  is  called  the 
court  of  sessions,.  The  justices  take  a  personal  share  in  pub- 
lie  business ;  they  are  sometimes  intrusted  with  administra 
tive  functions  in  conjunction  with  elected  officers  ;*  they 
sometimes  constitute  a  tribunal,  before  which  the  magistrate? 
summarily  prosecute  a  refractory  citizen  or  the  citizens  in 
form  against  the  abuses  of  the  magistrate.  But  it  is  in  the 
court  of  sessions  that  they  exercise  their  most  important  func 
tions.  This  court  meets  twice  a  year  in  the  county  town  ;  in 
Massachusetts  it  is  empowered  to  enforce  the  obedience  of  the 
greater  number']'  of  public  officers. £  It  must  be  observed 
that  in  the  state  of  Massachusetts  the  court  of  sessions  is  at 
»the  same  time  an  administrative  body,  properly  so  called,  and 
a  political  tribunal .  It  has  been  asserted  that  the  county  is  a 
purely  administrative  division.  The  court  of  sessions  pre 
sides  overvthat  small  number  of  affairs  which,  as  they  con 
cern  several  townships,  or  all  the  townships  of  the  county  in 
common,  cannot  be  intrusted  to  any  of  them  in  particular. § 
In  all  that  concerns  county  business,  the  duties  of  the  court 
of  sessions  are  therefore  purely  administrative  ;  and  if  in  its 
investigations  it  occasionally  borrows  the  forms  of  judicial 
procedure,  it  is  only  with  a  view  to  its  own  information,  |j  or 

*  Thus,  for  example,  a  stranger  arrives  in  a  township  from  a  coun 
try  where  a  contagious  disease  prevails,  and  he  falls  ill.  Two  justices 
of  the  peace  can,  with  the  assent  of  the  selectmen,  order  the  sheriff'  of 
the  county  to  remove  and  take  care  of  him.  Act  of  22d  June,  1797; 
vol.  i.,  p.  540. 

In  general  the  justices  interfere  in  all  the  important  acts  of  the  ad 
ministration,  and  give  them  a  semi-judicial  character. 

t  I  say  the  greater  number  because  certain  administrative  misde 
meanors  are  brought  before  the  ordinary  tribunals.  If,  for  instance,  a 
township  refuses  to  make  the  necessary  expenditure  for  its  schools,  or 
to  name  a  school-committee,  it  is  liable  to  a  heavy  fine.  But  this  pe 
nalty  is  pronounced  by  the  supreme  judicial  court  or  the  court  of  com 
mon  pleas.  See  the  act  of  10th  March,  1827 ;  laws  of  Massachu 
setts,  vol.  iii.,  p.  190.  Or  when  a  township  neglects  to  provide  the 
necessary  war-stores.  Act  of  21st  February,  1822;  Id.  vol.  ii.,  p. 
570. 

\  In  their  individual  capacity,  the  justices  of  the  peace  take  a  part 
in  the  business  of  the  counties  and  townships.  The  more  important 
nets  of  the  municipal  government  are  rarely  decided  upon  without  the 
co-operation  of  one  of  their  body. 

§  These  affairs  may  be  brought  under  the  following  heads  :  1.  The 
erection  of  prisons  and  courts  of  justice.  2.  The  county  budget,  which 
is  afterward  voted  by  the  state.  3.  The  assessment  of  the  taxes  so 
voted.  4.  Grants  of  certain  patents.  5.  The  laying  down  and  repairs 
of  the  county  roads. 

||  Thus,  when  a  road  is  under  ponsideration,  almost  all  difficulties  are 
disposed  of  by  the  aid  of  the  jury. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  73 

as  a  guarantee  to  the  community  over  which  it  presides.  But 
when  the  administration  of  the  township  is  brought  before  it, 
it  almost  always  acts  as  a  judicial  body,  and  in  some  few 
cases  as  an  administrative  assembly. 

The  first  difficulty  is  to  procure  the  obedience  of  an  author 
ity  so  entirely  independent  of  the  general  laws  of  the  state  as 
the  township  is.  We  have  stated  that  assessors  are  annually 
named  by  the  town  meetings,  to  levy  the  taxes.  If  a  town 
ship  attempts  to  evade  the  payment  of  the  taxes  by  neglecting 
to  name  its  assessors,  the  court  of  sessions  condemns  it  to  a 
heavy  penalty.*  The  fine  is  levied  on  each  of  the  inhabit 
ants  ;  and  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  who  is  an  officer  of  jus 
tice,  executes  the  mandate.  Thus  it  is  that  in  the  United 
States  the  authority  of  the  government  is  mysteriously  con 
cealed  under  the  forms  of  a  judicial  sentence  ;  and  the  influ 
ence  is  at  the  same  time  fortified  by  that  irresistible  power 
with  which  men  have  invested  the  formalities  of  law. 

These  proceedings  are  easy  to  follow,  and  to  understand. 
The  demands  made  upon  a  township  are  in  general  plain  and 
accurately  defined  ;  they  consist  in  a  simple  fact  without  any 
complication,  or  in  a  principle  without  its  application  in  de 
tail. f  But  the  difficulty  increases  when  it  is  not  the  obedi 
ence  of  the  township,  but  that  of  the  town  officers,  which  is 
to  be  enforced.  All  the  reprehensible  actions  of  which  a 
public  functionary  may  be  guilty  are  reducible  to  the  follow 
ing  heads : — 

He  may  execute  the  law  without  energy  or  zeal  ; 

He  may  neglect  to  .execute  the  law  ; 

He  may  do  what  the  law  enjoins  him  not  to  do. 

The  last  two  violations  of  duty  can  alone  come  under  the 
cognizance  of  a  tribunal  ;  a  positive  and  appreciable  fact  is 
the  indispensable  foundation  of  an  action  at  law.  Thus,  if 
the  selectmen  omit  to  fulfil  the  legal  formalities  usual  to 
town  elections,  they  may  be  condemned  to  pay  a  fine ;  J  but 

*  See  the  act  of  the  20th  February,  1780;  laws  of  Massachusetts, 
vol.  i.,  p.  217. 

j  There  is  an  indirect  method  of  enforcing  the  obedience  of  a  town 
ship.  Suppose  that  the  funds  which  the  law  demands  for  the  mainte 
nance  of  the  roads  have  not  been  voted ;  the  town-surveyor  is  then 
authorized,  ex-cfficio,  to  levy  the  supplies.  As  he  is  personally  respon 
sible  to  private  individuals  for  the  state  of  the  roads,  and  indictable  be 
fore  the  court  of  sessions,  he  is  sure  to  employ  the  extraordinary  right 
which  the  law  gives  him  against  the  township.  Thus  by  threatening 
the  officer,  the  court  of  sessions  exacts  compliance  from  .the  town.  See 
the  act  of  5th  March,  1787;  laws  of  Massachasetts,  vol/i.,  p.  305 

t  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  2.,  p.  45. 


74  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING   THE 

when  the  public  officer  performs  his  duty  without  alii' ty,  ana 
when  he  obeys  the  letter  of  the  law  without  zeal  or  energy, 
he  is  at  least  beyond  the  reach  of  judicial  interference.  The 
court  of  sessions,  even  when  it  is  invested  with  its  adminis 
trative  powers,  is  in  this  case  unable  to  compel  him  to  a  more 
satisfactory  obedience.  The  fear  of  removal  is  the  only 
check  to  these  quasi  offences  ;  and  as  the  court  of  sessions 
does  not  originate  the  town  authorities,  it  cannot  remove  func 
tionaries  whom  it  does  not  appoint.  Moreover,  a  perpetual 
investigation  would  be  necessary  to  convict  the  subordinate 
officer  of  negligence  or  lukewarmness  ;  and  the  court  of  ses 
sions  sits  but  twice  a  year,  and  then  only  judges  such  offences 
*as  are  brought  before  its  notice.  The  only  security  for  that 
active  and  enlightened  obedience,  which  a  court  of  justice 
cannot  impose  upon  public  officers,  lies  in  the  possibility  of 
their  arbitrary  removal.  In  France  this  security  is  sought 
for  in  powers  exercised  by  the  heads  of  the  administration  ; 
in  America  it  is  sought  for  in  the  principle  of  election. 

Thus,  to  recapitulate  in  a  few  words  what  I  have  been 
showing : — 

If  a  public  officer  in  New  England  commits  a  crime  in  the 
exercise  of  his  functions,  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice  are 
always  called  upon  to  pass  sentence  upon  him. 

If  he  commits  a  fault  in  his  official  capacity,  a  purely  ad 
ministrative  tribunal  is  empowered  to  punish  him ;  and,  if  the 
affair  is  important  or  urgent,  the  judge  supplies  the  omission 
of  the  functionary.* 

Lastly,  if  the  same  individual  is  guilty  of  one  of  those  in 
tangible  offences,  of  which  human  justice  has  no  cognizance, 
he  annually  appears  before  a  tribunal  from  which  there  is  no 
appeal,  which  can  at  once  reduce  him  to  insignificance,  and 
deprive  him  of  his  charge.  This  system  undoubtedly  pos 
sesses  great  advantages,  but  its  execution  is  attended  with  a 
practical  difficulty  which  it  is  important  to  point  out. 

I  have  already  observed,  that  the  administrative  tribunal, 
which  is  called  the  court  of  sessions,  has  no  right  of  inspec 
tion  over  the  town  officers.  It  can  only  interfere  when  the 
conduct  of  a  magistrate  is  specially  brought  under  its  notice  ; 
and  this  is  the  delicate  part  of  the  system.  The  Americans 
of  New  England  are  unacquainted  with  the  office  of  public 

*  If,  for  instance,  a  township  persists  in  refusing  to  name  its  asses 
sors,  the  court  of  sessions  nominates  them  ;  and  the  magistrates  thus 
appointed  are  invested  with  the  same  authority  as  elected  officers  See 
the  act  quoted  above,  20th  February,  1787. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  75 

prosecutor  in  the  court  of  sessions,*  and  it  may  readily  be  per 
ceived  that  it  could  not  have  been  established  without  diffi 
culty.  If  an  accusing  magistrate  had  merely  been  appointed 
in  the  chief  town  of  each  county,  and  if  he  had  been  unassisted 
by  agents  in  the  townships,  he  would  not  have  been  better 
acquainted  with  what  was  going  on  in  the  county  than  the 
members  of  the  court  of  sessions.  But  to  appoint  agents  in 
each  township,  would  have  been  to  centre  in  his  person  the 
most  formidable  of  powers,  that  of  a  judicial  administration. 
Moreover,  laws  are  the  children  of  habit,  and  nothing  of  the 
kind  exists  in  the  legislation  of  England.  The  Americans 
have  therefore  divided  the  officers  of  inspection  and  of  prose 
cution  as  well  as  all  the  other  functions  of  the  administration. 
Grand-jurors  are  bound  by  the  law  to  apprize  the  court  to 
which  they  belong  of  all  the  misdemeanors  which  may  have 
been  committed  in  their  county. f  There  are  certain  great 
offences  which  are  officially  prosecuted  by  the  state  ;  J  but 
more  frequently  the  task  of  punishing  delinquents  devolves 
upon  the  fiscal  officer,  whose  province  it  is  to  receive  the 
fine  ;  thus  the  treasurer  of  the  township  is  charged  with  the 
prosecution  of  such  administrative  offences  as  fall  under  his 
notice.  But  a  more  especial  appeal  is  made  by  American 
legislation  to  the  private  interest  of  the  citizen, §  and  this  great 
principle  is  constantly  to  be  met  with  in  studying  the  laws  of 
the  United  States.  American  legislators  are  more  apt  to  give 
men  credit  for  intelligence  than  for  honesty  ;  and  they  rely 
not  a  little  on  personal  cupidity  for  the  execution  »of  the  laws. 
When  an  individual  is  really  and  sensibly  injured  by  an  ad 
ministrative  abuse,  it  is  natural  that  his  personal  interest 
should  induce  him  to  prosecute.  But  if  a  legal  formality  be 
required  which,  however  advantageous  to  the  community,  is 
of  small  importance  to  individuals,  plaintiffs  may  be  less 
easily  found  ;  and  thus,  by  a  tacit  agreement,  the  laws  might 
fall  into  disuse.  Reduced  by  their  system  to  this  extremity, 
the  Americans  are  obliged  to  encourage  informers  by  bestow 
ing  on  them  a  portion  of  the  penalty  in  certain  cases  ;||  and 

*  I  say  the  court  of  sessions,  because  in  common  courts  there  is  a 
magistrate  who  exercises  some  of  the  functions  of  a  public  prosecutor. 

t  The  grand-jurors  are,  for  instance,  bound  to  inform  the  court  of 
the  bad  state  of  the  roads.  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  i.,  p.  308. 

J  If,  for  instance,  the  treasurer  of  the  county  holds  back  his  account 
Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  i.,  p.  406. 

§  Thus,  if  a  private  individual  breaks  down  or  is  wounded  in  conse 
quence  of  the  badness  of  a  road,  he  can  sue  the  township  or  the  county 
for  damages  at  the  sessions.  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  i.,  p.  309. 

H  In  cases  of  invasion  or  insurrection,  if  the  town  officers  neglect  to 


76  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING   THE 

to  ensure  the  execution  of  the  laws  by  the  dangerous  expedi 
ent  of  degrading  the  morals  of  the  people. 

The  only  administrative  authority  above  the  county  magis 
trates  is,  properly  speaking,  that  of  the  government. 


GENERAL    REMARKS    ON    THE   ADMINISTRATION     OF    THE   UNITED 
STATES. 

Difference  of  the  States  of  the  Union  in  their  Systems  of  Administra 
tion. — Activity  and  Perfection  of  the  local  Authorities  decreases  to 
wards  the  South. — Power  of  the  Magistrates  increases  ;  that  of  the 

*  Elector  diminishes. — Administration  passes  from  the  Township  to 
the  County.— States  of  New  York,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania.— Principles 
of  Administration  applicable  to  the  whole  Union. — Election  of  public 
Officers,  and  Inalienability  of  their  Functions. — Absence  of  Gradation 
of  Ranks. — Introduction  of  judicial  Resources  into  the  Adminis 
tration. 

I  HAVE  already  premised  that  after  having  examined  the 
constitution  of  the  township  and  the  county  of  New  England 
in  detail,  I  should  take  a  general  view  of  the  remainder  of 
the  Union.  Townships  and  a  local  activity  exist  in  every 
state  ;  but  in  no  part  of  the  confederation  is  a  township  to  be 
met  with  precisely  similar  to  those  in  New  England.  The 
more  we  descend  toward  the  south,  the  less  active  does  the 
business  of  the  township  or  parish  become  ;  the  number  of 
magistrates,  of  functions,  and  of  rights,  decreases  ;  the  popu 
lation  exercises  a  less  immediate  influence  on  affairs ;  town- 
meetings  are  less  frequent,  and  the  subjects  of  debates  less 
numerous.  The  power  of  the  elected  magistrate  is  aug 
mented,  and  that  of  the  elector  diminished,  while  the  public 
spirit  of  the  local  communities  is  less  awakened  and  less  in 
fluential.* 

furnish  the  necessary  stores  and  ammunition  for  the  militia,  the  town 
ship  may  be  condemned  to  a  fine  of  from  two  to  five  hundred  dollars. 
It  may  readily  be  imagined  that  in  such  a  case  it  might  happen  that  no 
one  cared  to  prosecute  :  hence  the  law  adds  that  all  the  citizens  may 
indict  offences  of  this  kind,  and  that  half  the  fine  shall  belong  to  the 
plaintiff.  See  the  act  of  6th  March,  1810 ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  236.  The  same 
clause  is  frequently  to  be  met  with  in  the  laws  of  Massachusetts.  Not 
only  are  private  individuals  thus  incited  to  prosecute  public  officers, 
but  the  public  officers  are  encouraged  in  the  same  manner  to  bring  the 
disobedience  of  private  individuals  to  justice.  If  a  citizen  refuses  to 
perform  the  work  which  has  been  assigned  to  him  upon  a  road,  the 
road-surveyor  may  prosecute  him,  and  he  receives  half  the  penalty  for 
himself.  See  the  laws  above  quoted,  vol.  i.,  p.  308. 

*  For  details,  see  Revised  Statutes  of  the  state  of  New  York,  part  I  , 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  77 

These  differences  may  be  perceived  to  a  certain  extent  in 
the  state  of  New  York  ;  they  are  very  sensible  in  Pennsyl 
vania  ;  but  they  become  less  striking  as  we  advance  to  the 
northwest.  The  majority  of  the  emigrants  who  settle  in  the 
northwestern  states  are  natives  of  New  England,  and  they 
carry  the  habits  of  their  mother-country  with  them  into  that 
which  they  adopt.  A  township  in  Ohio  is  by  no  means  dis 
similar  from  a  township  in  Massachusetts. 

We  have  seen  that  in  Massachusetts  the  principal  part  of 
the  public  administration  lies  in  the  township.  It  forms  the 
common  centre  of  the  interests  and  affections  of  the  citizens. 
But  this  ceases  to  be  the  case  as  we  descend  to  states  in 
which  knowledge  is  less  generally  diffused,  and  where  the 
township  consequently  offers  fewer  guarantees  of  a  wise  and 
active  administration.  As  we  leave  New  England,  there 
fore,  we  find  that  the  importance  of  the  town  is  gradually 
transferred  to  the  county,  which  becomes  the  centre  of  ad 
ministration,  and  the  intermediate  power  between  the  govern 
ment  and  the  citizen.  In  Massachusetts  the  business  of  the 
town  is  conducted  by  the  court  of  sessions,  which  is  composed 
of  a  quorum  named  by  the  governor  and  his  council  ;  but  the 
county  has  no  representative  assembly,  and  its  expenditure  is 
voted  by  the  national  (a)  legislature.  In  the  great  state  of 
New  York,  on  the  contrary,  and  in  those  of  Ohio  and  Penn 
sylvania,  the  inhabitants  of  each  county  choose  a  certain 
number  of  representatives,  who  constitute  the  assembly  of 
the  county.*  The  county  assembly  has  the  right  of  taxing 
the  inhabitants  to  a  certain  extent ;  and  in  this  respect  it  en 
joys  the  privileges  of  a  real  legislative  body :  at  the  same 

chap,  xi.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  336-364,  entitled,  "  Of  the  Powers,  Duties,  and 
Privileges  of  Towns." 

See  in  the  digest  of  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  the  words,  ASSESSORS, 
COLLECTOR,  CONSTABLES,  OVERSEER  OF  THE  POOR,  SUPERVISORS  OF 
HIGHWAYS  :  and  in  the  acts  of  a  general  nature  of  the  state  of  Ohio, 
the  act  of  25th  February,  1834,  relating  to  townships,  p.  412  ;  beside 
the  peculiar  dispositions  relating  to  divers  town  officers,  such  as  town 
ship's  clerks,  trustees,  overseers  of  the  poor,  fence-viewers,  appraisers 
of  property,  township's  treasurer,  constables,  supervisors  of  highways. 

(a)  The  author  means  the  state  legislature.  The  congress  has  no 
control  over  the  expenditure  of  the  counties  or  of  the  states. 

*  See  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  state  of  New  York,  part  i.,  chap, 
xi.,  vol.  i.,p.  410.  Idem,  chap,  xii.,  p.  366:  also  in  the  acts  of  the 
state  of  Ohio,  an  act  relating  to  county  commissioners,  25th  February, 
1824,  p.  203.  See  the  Digest  of  the  Laws  of  Pennsylvania,  at  the 
words,  COUNTY-RATES  AND  LEVIES,  p.  170. 

In  the  state  of  New  York,  each  township  elects  a  representative,  who 
has  a  share  in  the  administration  of  the  county  as  well  as  in  that  of  the 
township. 


78  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING    THE 

time  it  exercises  an  executive  power  in  the  county,  frequently 
directs  the  administration  of  the  townships,  and  restricts  their 
authority  within  much  narrower  bounds  than  in  Massa 
chusetts. 

Such  are  the  principal  differences  which  the  systems  of 
county  and  town  administration  present  in  the  federal  states. 
Were  it  my  intention  to  examine  the  provisions  of  American 
law  minutely,  I  should  have  to  point  out  still  farther  differences 
in  the  executive  details  of  the  several  communities.  But 
what  I  have  already  said  may  suffice  to  show  the  general 
principles  on  which  the  administration  of  the  United  States 
rests.  These  principles  are  differently  applied  ;  their  conse- 
^quences  are  more  or  less  numerous  in  various  localities  ;  but 
they  are  always  substantially  the  same.  The  laws  differ, 
and  their  outward  features  change,  but  their  character  does 
not  vary.  If  the  township  and  the  county  are  not  everywhere 
constituted  in  the  same  manner,  it  is  at  least  true  that  in  the 
United  States  the  county  and  the  township  are  always  based 
upon  the  same  principle,  namely,  that  every  one  is  the  best 
judge  of  what  concerns  himself  alone,  and  the  person  most 
able  to  supply  his  private  wants.  The  township  and  the 
county  are  therefore  bound  to  take  care  of  their  special 
interests  :  the  state  governs,  but  it  does  not  interfere  with  their 
administration.  Exceptions  to  this  rule  may  be  met  with, 
but  not  a  contrary  principle. 

The  first  consequence  of  this  doctrine  has  been  to  cause 
all  the  magistrates  to  be  chosen  either  by,  or  at  least  from 
among  the  citizens.  As  the  officers  are  everywhere  elected 
or  appointed  for  a  certain  period,  it  has  been  impossible  to 
establish  the  rules  of  a  dependent  series  of  authorities  ;  there 
are  almost  as  many  independent  functionaries  as  there  are 
functions,  and  the  executive  power  is  disseminated  in  a  multi 
tude  of  hands.  Hence  arose  the  indispensable  necessity  of 
introducing  the  control  of  the  courts  of  justice  over  the 
administration,  and  the  system  of  pecuniary  penalties,  by 
which  the  secondary  bodies  and  their  representatives  are  con 
strained  to  obey  the  laws.  The  system  obtains  from  one  end 
of  the  Union  to  the  other.  The  power  of  punishing  the  mis 
conduct  of  public  officers,  or  of  performing  the  part  of  the 
executive,  in  urgent  cases,  has  not,  however,  been  bestowed 
on  the  same  judges  in  all  the  states.  The  Anglo-Americans 
derived  the  institution  of  justices  of  the  peace  from  a  common 
source  ;  but  although  it  exists  in  all  the  states,  it  is  not  always 
turned  to  the  same  use.  The  justices  of  the  peace  every 
where  participate  in  the  administration  of  the  townships  and 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  79 

the  counties,*  either  as  public  officers  or  as  the  judges  of  pub 
lic  misdemeanors,  but  in  most  of  the  states  the  more  important 
classes  of  public  offences  come  under  the  cognisance  of  the 
ordinary  tribunals. 

The  election  of  public  officers,  or  the  inalienability  of  their 
functions,  the  absence  of  a  gradation  of  powers,  and  the  intro 
duction  of  a  judicial  control  over  the  secondary  branches  of 
the  administration,  are  the  universal  characteristics  of  the 
American  system  from  Maine  to  the  Floridas.  In  some 
states  (and  that  of  New  York  has  advanced  most  in  this 
direction)  traces  of  a  centralised  administration  begin  to  be 
discernible.  In  the  state  of  New  York  the  officers  of  the 
central  government  exercise,  in  certain  cases,  a  sort  of 
inspection  of  control  over  the  secondary  bodies. f  At  other 
times  they  constitute  a  court  of  appeal  for  the  decision  of 
affairs.J  In  the  state  of  New  York  judicial  penalties  are  less 

*  In  some  of  the  southern  states  the  county-courts  are  charged  with 
all  the  details  of  the  administration.  See  the  Statutes  of  the  State  of 
Tennessee,  arts.  JUDICIARY,  TAXKS,  &c. 

f  For  instance,  the  direction  of  public  instruction  centres  in  the 
hands  of  the  government.  The  legislature  names  the  members  of  the 
university,  who  are  denominated  regents  ;  the  governor  and  lieutenant- 
governor  of  the  state  are  necessarily  of  the  number.  Revised  Statutes, 
vol.  i.,  p.  455.  The  regents  of  the  university  annually  visit  the  colleges 
and  academies,  and  make  their  report  to  the  legislature.  Their  super 
intendence  is  not  inefficient,  for  several  reasons  :  the  colleges  in  order 
to  become  corporations  stand  in  need  of  a  charter,  which  is  only  granted 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  regents  :  every  year  funds  are  distributed 
by  the  state  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  and  the  regents  are  the 
distributors  of  this  money.  See  chap,  xv.,  "Public  Instruction," 
Revised  Statutes,  vol  i.,  p.  455 

The  school  commissioners  are  obliged  to  send  an  annual  report  to  the 
superintendent  of  the  state.  Idem,  p.  44S. 

A  similar  report  is  annually  made  to  the  same  person  on  the  number 
and  condition  of  the  poor.  Idem,  p.  031. 

i  If  any  one  conceives  himself  to  be  wronged  by  the  school  commis 
sioners  (who  are  town-officers),  he  can  appeal  to  the  superintendent  of 
the  primary  schools,  whose  decision  is  final.  Revised  Statutes,  vol  i  , 
p.  487. 

Provisions  similar  to  those  above  cited  are  to  be  met  with  from  time 
to  time  in  the  laws  of  the  state  of  New  York  :  but  in  general  these 
attempts  at  centralisation  are  weak  and  unproductive.  The  great  au 
thorities  of  the  state  have  the  right  of  watching  and  controlling  the 
subordinate  agents,  without  that  of  rewarding  or  punishing  them.  The 
same  individual  is  never  empowered  to  give  an  order  and  to  punish 
disobedience;  he  has  therefore  the  right  of  commanding,  without  the 
means  of  exacting  compliance.  In  1830  the  superintendent  of  schools 
complained  in  his  annual  report  addressed  to  the  legislature,  that 
several  school  commissioners  had  neglected,  notwithstanding  his  appli 
cation,  to  furnish  him  with  the  accounts  which  were  due.  He  added, 
that  if  this  omission  continued,  he  should  be  obliged  to  prosecute  them,, 
as  the  law  directs,  before  the  proper  tribunals. 


80  NECESSITY   OF   EXAMINING   THE 

used  than  in  other  parts  as  a  means  of  administration  ;  and 
the  right  of  prosecuting  the  offences  of  public  officers  is 
vested  in  fewer  hands.*  The  same  tendency  is  faintly 
observable  in  some  other  states  ;f  but  in  general  the  promi 
nent  feature  of  the  administration  in  the  United  States  is  its 
excessive  local  independence. 


OF  THE  STATE. 

I  HAVE  described  the  townships  and  the  administration:  it 
now  remains  fot  me  to  speak  of  the  state  and  government. 
This  is  ground  I  may  pass  over  rapidly,  without  fear  of  being 
misunderstood ;  for  all  I  have  to  say  is  to  be  found  in  written 
forms  of  the  various  constitutions,  which  are  easily  to  be 
procured 4  These  constitutions  rest  upon  a  simple  and 
rational  theory  ;  their  forms  have  been  adopted  by  all  consti 
tutional  nations,  and  are  become  familiar  to  us. 

In  this  place,  therefore,  it  is  only  necessary  for  me  to  give 
a  short  analysis  ;  I  shall  endeavor  afterward  to  pass  judgment 
upon  what  I  now  describe. 


LEGISLATIVE  POWER  OF  THE  STATE. 

Division  of  the  Legislative  Body  into  two  Houses. — Senate. — House  of 
Representatives. — Different  functions  of  these  two  Bodies. 

THE  legislative  power  of  the  state  is  vested  in  two  assemblies, 
the  first  of  which  generally  bears  the  name  of  the  senate. 

The  senate  is  commonly  a  legislative  body  ;  but  it  some 
times  becomes  an  executive  and  judicial  one.  It  takes  a  part 
in  the  government  in  several  ways,  according  to  the  constitu 
tion  of  the  different  states  ;§  but  it  is  in  the  nomination  of 

*  Thus  the  district-attorney  is  directed  to  recover  all  fines  below  the 
sum  of  fifty  dollars,  (a)  unless  such  a  right  has  been  specially  awarded 
to  another  magistrate.  Revised  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  3S3. 

f  Several  traces  of  centralisation  may  be  discovered  in  Massachusetts , 
for  instance,  the  committees  of  the  town-schools  are  directed  to  make 
an  annual  report  to  the  secretary  of  state.  See  Laws  of  Massachusetts, 
vol.  i.,  p.  367. 

}  See  the  constitution  of  New  York. 

§  In  Massachusetts  the  Senate  is  not  invested  with  any  administra 
tive  functions. 

(a)  The  words  below  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  should  be  omitted  in  the  above  note. 


CONDITION   OF    THE    STATES.  81 

public  functionaries  that  it  most  commonly  assumes  an  execu 
tive  power.  It  partakes  of  judicial  power  in  the  trial  of 
certain  political  offences,  and  sometimes  also  in  the  decision 
of  certain  civil  cases.*  The  number  of  its  members  is 
always  small.  The  other  branch  of  the  legislature,  which 
is  usually  called  the  house  of  representatives,  has  no  share 
whatever  in  the  administration,  and  only  takes  a  part  in  the 
judicial  power  inasmuch  as  it  impeaches  public  functionaries 
before  the  senate. 

The  members  of  the  two  houses  are  nearly  everywhere 
subject  to  the  same  conditions  of  election.  They  are  chosen 
in  the  same  manner,  and  by  the  same  citizens. 

The  only  difference  which  exists  between  them  is,  that  the 
term  for  which  the  senate  is  chosen,  is  in  general  longer  than 
that  of  the  house  of  representatives.  The  latter  seldom 
remain  in  office  longer  than  a  year ;  the  former  usually  sit 
two  or  three  years. 

By  granting  to  the  senators  the  privilege  of  being  chosen 
for  several  years,  and  being  renewed  seriatim,  the  law  takes 
care  to  preserve  in  the  legislative  body  a  nucleus  of  men 
already  accustomed  to  public  business,  and  capable  of  exer 
cising  a  salutary  influence  upon  the  junior  members. 

The  Americans,  plainly,  did  not  desire,  by  this  separation 
of  the  legislative  body  into  two  branches,  to  make  one  house 
hereditary  and  the  other  elective  ;  one  aristocratic  and  the 
other  democratic.  It  was  not  their  object  to  create  in  the  one 
a  bulwark  to  power,  while  the  other  represented  the  interests 
and  passions  of  the  people.  The  only  advantages  which 
result  from  the  present  constitution  of  the  United  States,  are, 
the  division  of  the  legislative  power,  and  the  consequent  check 
upon  political  assemblies  ;  with  the  creation  of  a  tribunal  of 
appeal  for  the  revision  of  the  laws. 

Time  and  experience,  however,  have  convinced  the  Ame 
ricans  that  if  these  are  its  only  advantages,  the  division  of 
the  legislative  power  is  still  a  principle  of  the  greatest  neces 
sity.  Pennsylvania  was  the  only  one  of  the  United  States 
which  at  first  attempted  to  establish  a  single  house  of  assem 
bly  ;  and  Franklin  himself  was  so  far  carried  away  by  the 
necessary  consequences  of  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  as  to  have  concurred  in  the  measure  ;  but  the 
Pennsylvanians  were  soon  obliged  to  change  the  law,  and  to 
create  two  houses.  Thus  the  principle  of  the  division  of  the 
legislative  power  was  finally  established,  and  its  necessity 
may  henceforward  be  regarded  as  a  demonstrated  truth. 

*  As  in  the  state  of  New  York. 
6 


82  NECESSITY    OF   EXAMINING   THE 

This  theory,  which  was  nearly  unknown  to  the  republics 
of  antiquity — which  was  introduced  into  the  world  almost  by 
accident,  like  so  many  other  great  truths — and  misunderstood 
by  several  modern  nations,  is  at  length  become  an  axiom  in 
the  political  science  of  the  present  age. 


THE    EXECUTIVE  -POWER    OF    THE    STATE. 

Office  of  Governor  in  an  American  State. — The  Place  he  occupies  in 
relation  to  the  Legislature. — His  Rights  and  his  Duties. — His  De 
pendence  on  the  People. 

THE  executive  power  of  the  state  may  with  truth  be  said  to 
be  represented  by  the  governor,  although  he  enjoys  but  a 
portion  of  its  rights.  The  supreme  magistrate,  under  the 
title  of  governor,  is  the  official  moderator  and  counsellor  of 
the  legislature.  He  is  armed  with  a  suspensive  veto,  which 
allows  him  to  stop,  or  at  least  to  retard,  its  movements  at 
pleasure.  He  lays  the  wants  of  the  country  before  the  legis 
lative  body,  and  points  out  the  means  which  he  thinks  may 
be  usefully  employed  in  providing  for  them  ;  he  is  the  natural 
executor  of  its  decrees  in  all  the  undertakings  which  interest 
the  nation  at  large.*  In  the  absence  of  the  legislature,  the 
governor  is  bound  to  take  all  necessary  steps  to  guard  the 
state  against  violent  shocks  and  unforeseen  dangers. 

The  whole  military  power  of  the  state  is  at  the  disposal  of 
the  governor.  He  is  commander  of  the  militia  and  head  of 
the  armed  force.  When  the  authority,  which  is  by  general 
consent  awarded  to  the  laws,  is  disregarded,  the  governor 
puts  himself  at  the  head  of  the  armed  force  of  the  state,  to 
quell  resistance  and  to  restore  order. 

Lastly,  the  governor  takes  no  share  in  the  administration 
of  townships  and  counties,  except  it  be  indirectly  in  the 
nomination  of  justices  of  the  peace,  which  nomination  he  has» 
not  the  power  to  revoke. f 

The  governor  is  an  elected  magistrate,  and  is  generally 
chosen  for  one  or  two  years  only  ;  so  that  he  always  con 
tinues  to  be  strictly  dependent  on  the  majority  who  returned 
him. 

*  Practically  speaking,  it  is  not  always  the  governor  who  executes 
the  plans  of  the  legislature  ;  it  often  happens  that  the  latter,  in  voting 
a  measure,  names  special  agents  to  superintend  the  execution  of  it. 

f  Tn  some  of  the  states  the  Justices  of  the  peace  are  not  nominated 
by  the  governor. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  83 


POLITICAL   EFFECTS    OF  THE    SYSTEM  OF  LOCAL  ADMINISTRATION 
IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Necessary  Distinction  between  the  general  Centralisation  of  Govern 
ment,  and  the  Centralisation  of  the  local  Administration. — Local 
Administration  not  centralized  in  the  United  States ;  great  general 
Centralisation  of  the  Government. — Some  bad  Consequences  result 
ing  to  the  United  States  from  the  local  Administration. — Adminis 
trative  Advantages  attending  the  Order  of  things. — The  Power  which 
conducts  the  Government  is  less  regular,  less  enlightened,  less 
learned,  but  much  greater  than  in  Europe. — Political  Advantages  of 
this  Order  of  things. — In  the  United  States  the  Interests  of  the 
Country  are  everywhere  kept  in  View. — Support  given  to  the  Gov 
ernment  by  the  Community. — Provincial  Institutions  more  necessary 
in  Proportion  as  the  social  Condition  becomes  more  democratic. — 
Reason  of  this. 

CENTRALISATION  is  become  a  word  of  general  and  daily  use, 
without  any  precise  meaning  being  attached  to  it.  Never 
theless,  there  exist  two  distinct  kinds  of  centralisation,  which 
it  is  necessary  to  discriminate  with  accuracy. 

Certain  interests  are  common  to  all  parts  of  a  nation,  such 
as  the  enactment  of  its  general  laws,  and  the  maintenance  of 
its  foreign  relations.  Other  interests  are  peculiar  to  certain 
parts  of  the  nation ;  such,  for  instance,  as  the  business  of 
different  townships.  When  the  power  which  directs  the 
general  interests  is  centred  in  one  place,  or  in  the  same 
persons,  it  constitutes  a  central  government.  The  power  of 
directing  partial  or  local  interests,  when  brought  together,  in 
like  manner  constitutes  what  may  be  termed  a  central  admi 
nistration. 

Upon  some  points  these  two  kinds  of  centralisation  coalesce ; 
but  by  classifying  the  objects  which  fall  more  particularly 
within  the  province  of  each  of  them,  they  may  easily  be  dis 
tinguished. 

It  is  evident  that  a  central  government  acquires  immense 
power  when  united  to  administrative  centralisation.  Thus 
combined,  it  accustoms  men  to  set  their  own  will  habitually 
and  completely  aside ;  to  submit,  not  only  for  once  or  upon 
one  point,  but  in  every  respect,  and  at  all  times.  Not  only, 
therefore,  does  the  union  of  power  subdue  them  by  force,  but 
it  affects  them  in  the  ordinary  habits  of  life,  and  influences 
each  individual,  first  separately,  and  then  collectively. 

These  two  kinds  of  centralisation  mutually  assist  and  at 
tract  each  other  :  but  they  must  not  be  supposed  to  be  inse 
parable.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  more  completely  cen 
tral  government  than  that  which  existed  in  France  under 


84  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING    THE 

Louis  XIV. ;  when  the  same  individual  was  the  author  and 
the  interpreter  of  the  laws,  and  being  the  representative  of 
France  at  home  and  abroad,  he  was  justified  in  asserting  that 
the  state  was  identified  with  his  person.  Nevertheless,  the 
administration  was  much  less  centralized  under  Louis  XIV., 
than  it  is  at  the  present  day. 

In  England  the  centralisation  of  the  government  is  carried 
to  great  perfection  ;  the  state  has  the  compact  vigor  of  a  man, 
and  by  the  sole  act  of  its  will  it  puts  immense  engines  in 
motion,  and  wields  or  collects  the  efforts  of  its  authority.  In 
deed,  I  cannot  conceive  that  a  nation  can  enjoy  a  secure  or 
prosperous  existence  without  a  powerful  centralisation  of 
government.  But  I  am  of  opinion  that  a  central  admini<*tra- 
tion  enervates  the  nations  in  which  it  exists  by  incessantly 
diminishing  their  public  spirit.  If  such  an  administration 
succeeds  in  condensing  at  a  given  moment  on  a  given  point 
all  the  disposable  resources  of  a  people,  it  impairs  at  least  the 
renewal  of  those  resources.  It  may  ensure  a  victory  in  the 
houf  of  strife,  but  it  gradually  relaxes  the  sinews  of  strength. 
It  may  contribute  admirably  to  the  transient  greatness  of  a 
man,  but  it  cannot  ensure  the  durable  prosperity  of  a  people. 

If  we  pay  proper  attention,  we  shall  find  that  whenever  it 
is  said  that  a  state  cannot  act  because  it  has  no  central  point, 
it  is  the  centralisation  of  the  government  in  which  it  is  defi 
cient.  It  is  frequently  asserted,  and  we  are  prepared  to  as 
sent  to  the  proposition,  that  the  German  empire  was  never 
able  to  bring  all  its  powers  into  action.  But  the  reason  was, 
that  the  state  has  never  been  able  to  enforce  obedience  to  its 
general  laws,  because  the  several  members  of  that  great  body 
always  claimed  the  right,  or  found  the  means,  of  refusing 
their  co-operation  to  the  representatives  of  the  common  au 
thority,  even  in  the  affairs  which  concerned  the  mass  of  the 
people  ;  in  other  words,  because  there  was  no  centralisation 
of  government.  The  same  remark  is  applicable  to  the  mid 
dle  ages  ;  the  cause  of  all  the  confusion  of  feudal  society  was 
that  the  control,  not  only  of  local  but  of  general  interests, 
was  divided  among  a  thousand  hands,  and  broken  up  in  a 
thousand  different  ways ;  the  absence  of  a  central  govern 
ment  prevented  the  nations  ol  Europe  from  advancing  with 
energy  in  any  straightforward  course. 

We  have  shown  that  in  the  United  States  no  central  admi 
nistration,  and  no  dependent  series  of  public  functionaries, 
exist.  Local  authority  has  been  carried  to  lengths  which 
no  European  nation  could  endure  without  great  inconveni 
ence,  and  which  have  even  produced  some  disadvantageous 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  85 

consequences  in  America.  But  in  the  United  States  the  cen 
tralisation  of  the  government  is  complete ;  and  it  would  be 
easy  to  prove  that  the  national  power  is  more  compact  than  it 
has  ever  been  in  the  old  monarchies  of  Europe.  Not  only  is 
there  but  one  legislative  body  in  each  state ;  not  only  does 
there  exist  but  one  source  of  political  authority  ;  but  nume 
rous  district  assemblies  and  county  courts  have  in  general  been 
avoided,  lest  they  should  be  tempted  to  exceed  their  adminis 
trative  duties  and  interfere  with  the  government.  In  America 
the  legislature  of  each  state  is  supreme  ;  nothing  can  impede 
its  authority ;  neither  privileges,  nor  local  immunities,  nor 
personal  influence,  nor  even  the  empire  of  reason,  since  it  re 
presents  that  majority  which  claims  to  be  the  sole  organ  of 
reason.  Its  own  determination  is,  therefore,  the  only  limit  to 
its  action.  In  juxtaposition  to  it,  and  under  its  immediate 
control,  is  the  representative  of  the  executive  power,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  constrain  the  refractory  to  submit  by  superior 
force.  The  only  symptom  of  weakness  lies  in  certain  details 
of  the  action  of  the  government.  The  American  republics 
have  no  standing  armies  to  intimidate  a  discontented  minority  ; 
but  as  no  minority  has  as  yet  been  reduced  to  declare  open 
war,  the  necessity  of  an  army  has  not  been  felt.  The  state 
usually  employs  the  officers  of  the  township  or  the  county,  to 
deal  with  the  citizens.  Thus,  for  instance,  in  New  England 
the  assessor  fixes  the  rate  of  taxes ;  the  collector  receives 
them ;  the  town  treasurer  transmits  the  amount  to  the  public 
treasury  ;  and  the  disputes  which  may  arise  are  brought  be 
fore  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice.  This  method  of  collect 
ing  taxes  is  slow  as  well  as  inconvenient,  and  it  would  prove 
a  perpetual  hindrance  to  a  government  whose  pecuniary  de 
mands  were  large.  In  general  it  is  desirable  that  in  what 
ever  materially  affects  its  existence,  the  government  should 
be  served  by  officers  of  its  own,  appointed  by  itself,  remova 
ble  at  pleasure,  and  accustomed  to  rapid  methods  of  proceed 
ing.  But  it  will  always  be  easy  for  the  central  government, 
organized  as  it  is  in  America,  to  introduce  new  and  more  ef 
ficacious  modes  of  action  proportioned  to  its  wants. 

The  absence  of  a  central  government  will  not,  then,  as 
has  often  been  asserted,  prove  the  destruction  of  the  repub 
lics  of  the  New  World  ;  far  from  supposing  that  the  Ameri 
can  governments  are  not  sufficiently  centralized,  I  shall  prove 
hereafter  that  they  are  too  much  so.  The  legislative  bodies 
daily  encroach  upon  the  authority  of  the  government,  and 
their  tendency,  like  that  of  the  French  convention,  is  to  ap 
propriate  it  entirely  to  themselves.  Under  these  circum- 


86  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING    THE 

stances  the  social  power  is  constantly  changing  hands,  be 
cause  it  is  subordinate  to  the  power  of  the  people,  which  is 
too  apt  to  forget  the  maxims  of  wisdom  and  of  foresight  in 
the  consciousness  of  its  strength  :  hence  arises  its  danger; 
and  thus  its  vigor,  and  not  its  impotence,  will  probably  be 
the  cause  of  its  ultimate  destruction. 

The  system  of  local  administration  produces  several  dif 
ferent  effects  in  America.  The  Americans  seem  to  me  to 
have  outstepped  the  limits  of  sound  policy,  in  isolating  the 
administration  of  the  government ;  for  order,  even  in  second- 
rate  affairs,  is  a  matter  of  national  importance.*  As  the 
state  has  no  administrative  functionaries  of  its  own,  stationed 
on  different  parts  of  its  territory,  to  whom  it  can  give  a  com 
mon  impulse,  the  consequence  is  that  it  rarely  attempts  to 
issue  any  general  police  regulations.  The  want  of  these 
regulations  is  severely  felt,  and  is  frequently  observed  by 
Europeans.  The  appearance  of  disorder  which  prevails  on 
the  surface,  leads  them  at  first  to  imagine  that  society  is  in  a 
state  of  anarchy ;  nor  do  they  perceive  their  mistake  till 
they  have  gone  deeper  into  the  subject.  Certain  undertak 
ings  are  of  importance  to  the  whole  state ;  but  they  cannot 
be  put  in  execution,  because  there  is  no  national  administra 
tion  to  direct  them.  Abandoned  to  the  exertions  of  the 
towns  or  counties,  under  the  care  of  elected  or  temporary 

*  The  authority  which  represents  the  state  ought  not,  I  think,  to 
waive  the  right  of  inspecting  the  local  administration,  even  when  it 
does  not  interfere  more  actively.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  an  agent 
of  the  government  was  stationed  at  some  appointed  spot,  in  the  coun 
ty,  to  prosecute  the  misdemeanors  of  the  town  and  county  officers, 
would  not  a  more  uniform  order  be  the  result,  without  in  any  way 
compromising  the  independence  of  the  township  ?  Nothing  of  the 
kind,  however,  exists  in  America;  there  is  nothing  above  the  county 
courts,  which  have,  as  it  were,  only  an  accidental  cognizance  of  the 
offences  they  are  meant  to  repress. 

[This  note  seems  to  have  been  written  without  reference  to  the  pro 
vision  existing,  it  is  believed  in  every  state  of  the  Union,  by  which  a 
local  officer  is  appointed  in  each  county,  to  conduct  all  public  prose 
cutions  at  the  expense  of  the  state.  And  in  each  county,  a  grand- 
jury  is  assembled  three  or  four  times  at  least  in  every  year,  to  which 
all  who  are  aggrieved  have  free  access,  and  where  every  complaint, 
particularly  those  against  public  officers,  which  has  the  least  color  of 
truth,  is  sure  to  be  heard  and  investigated. 

Such  an  agent  as  the  author  suggests  would  soon  come  to  be  con 
sidered  a  public  informer,  the  most  odious  of  all  characters  in  the 
United  Stites  ;  and  he  would  lose  all  ,-fficiency  and  strength.  With 
the  provision  above  mentioned,  there  is  little  d  mger  that  a  citizen,  op 
pressed  by  a  public  officer,  would  find  any  difficulty  in  becoming  his 
own  informer,  and  inducing  a  rigid  inquiry  into  the  alleged  miscon 
duct. — American  Editor. ] 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  87 

agents,  they  lead  to  no  result,  or  at  least  to  no  durable 
benefit. 

The  partisans  of  centralisation  in  Europe  maintain  that 
the  government  directs  the  affairs  of  each  locality  better  than 
the  citizens  could  do  it  for  themselves :  this  may  be  true 
when  the  central  power  is  enlightened,  and  when  the  local 
districts  are  ignorant ;  when  it  is  as  alert  as  they  are  slow  ; 
when  it  is  accustomed  to  act,  and  they  to  obey.  Indeed,  it 
is  evident  that  this  double  tendency  must  augment  with  the 
increase  of  centralisation,  and  that  the  readiness  of  the  one, 
and  the  incapacity  of  the  others,  must  become  more  and 
more  prominent.  But  I  deny  that  such  is  the  case  when  the 
people  is  as  enlightened,  as  awake  to  its  interests,  and  as  ac 
customed  to  reflect  on  them,  as  the  Americans  are.  I  am 
persuaded,  on  the  contrary,  that  in  this  case  the  collective 
strength  of  the  citizens  will  always  conduce  more  efficaci- 
cously  to  the  public  welfare  than  the  authority  of  the  govern 
ment.  It  is  difficult  to  point  out  with  certainty  the  means 
of  arousing  a  sleeping  population,  and  of  giving  it  passions 
and  knowledge  which  it  does  not  possess  ;  it  is,  I  am  well 
aware,  an  arduous  task  to  persuade  men  to  busy  themselves 
about  their  own  affairs;  and  it  would  frequently  be  easier  to 
interest  them  in  the  punctilios  of  court  etiquette  than  in  the 
repairs  of  their  common  dwelling.  But  whenever  a  central 
administration  affects  to  supersede  the  persons  most  inter 
ested,  I  am  inclined  to  suppose  that  it  is  either  misled,  or  de 
sirous  to  mislead.  However  enlightened  and  however  skil 
ful  a  central  power  may  be,  it  cannot  of  itself  embrace  all 
the  details  of  the  existence  of  a  great  nation.  Such  vigi 
lance  exceeds  the  powers  of  man.  And  when  it  attempts  to 
create  and  set  in  motion  so  many  complicated  springs,  it 
must  submit  to  a  very  imperfect  result,  or  consume  itself  in 
bootless  efforts. 

Centralisation  succeeds  more  easily,  indeed,  in  subjecting 
the  external  actions  of  men  to  a  certain  uniformity,  which  at 
last  commands  our  regard,  independently  of  the  objects  to 
which  it  is  applied,  like  those  devotees  who  worship  the  sta 
tue  and  forget  the  deity  it  represents.  Centralisation  imparts 
without  difficulty  an  admirable  regularity  to  the  routine  of 
business  ;  rules  the  details  of  the  social  police  with  sagacity  • 
represses  the  smallest  disorder  and  the  most  petty  misde 
meanors  ;  maintains  society  in  a  statu  quo,  alike  secure  from 
improvement  and  decline  ;  and  perpetuates  a  drowsy  pre 
cision  in  the  conduct  of  affairs,  which  is  hailed  by  the  heads 
of  the  administration  as  a  sign  of  perfect  order  and  public 


88  NECESSITY   OF   EXAMINING   THE 

tranquillity;*  in  short,, it  excels  more  in  prevention  than  in 
action.  Its  force  deserts  it  when  society  is  to  be  disturbed 
or  accelerated  in  its  course  ;  and  if  once  the  co-operation  of 
private  citizens  is  necessary  to  the  furtherance  of  its  mea 
sures,  the  secret  of  its  impotence  is  disclosed.  Even  while 
it  invokes  their  assistance,  it  is  on  the  condition  that  they 
shall  act  exactly  as  much  as  the  government  chooses,  and  ex 
actly  in  the  manner  it  appoints.  They  are  to  take  charge 
of  the  details,  without  aspiring  to  guide  the  system  ;  they 
are  to  work  in  a  dark  and  subordinate  sphere,  and  only  to 
judge  the  acts  in  which  they  have  themselves  co-operated, 
by  their  results.  These,  however,  are  not  conditions  on 
which  the  alliance  of  the  human  will  is  to  be  obtained  ;  its 
carriage  must  be  free,  and  its  actions  responsible,  or  (such 
is  the  constitution  of  man)  the  citizen  had  rather  remain  a 
passive  spectator  than  a  dependent  actor  in  schemes  with 
which  he  is  unacquainted. 

It  is  undeniable,  that  the  want  of  those  uniform  regula 
tions  which  control  the  conduct  of  every  inhabitant  of  France 
is  not  unfrequently  felt  in  the  United  States.  Gross  instances 
of  social  indifference  and  neglect  are  to  be  met  with  ;  and 
from  time  to  time  disgraceful  blemishes  are  seen,  in  complete 
contrast  with  the  surrounding  civilisation.  Useful  undertak 
ings,  which  cannot  succeed  without  perpetual  attention  and 
rigorous  exactitude,  are  very  frequently  abandoned  in  the 
end  ;  for  in  America,  as  well  as  in  other  countries,  the  people 
is  subject  to  sudden  impulses  and  momentary  exertions. 
The  European  who  is  accustomed  to  find  a  functionary 
always  at  hand  to  interfere  with  all  he  undertakes,  has  some 
difficulty  in  accustoming  himself  to  the  complex  mechanism 
of  the  administration  of  the  townships.  In  general  it  may 
be  affirmed  that  the  lesser  details  of  the  police,  which  render 
life  easy  and  comfortable,  are  neglected  in  America ;  but 
that  the  essential  guarantees  of  man  in  society  are  as  strong 
there  as  elsewhere.  In  America  the  power  which  conducts 
the  government  is  far  less  regular,  less  enlightened,  and  less 
learned,  but  a  hundredfold  more  authoritative,  than  in  Eu- 

*  China  appears  to  me  to  present  the  most  perfect  instance  of  that 
species  of  well-being  which  a  completely  central  administration  may 
furnish  to  the  nations  among  which  it  exists.     Travellers  assure  us 
that  the  Chinese  have  peace  without  happiness,  industry  without  im 
provement,  stability  without  strength,  and  public  order  without  public 
morality.     The  condition  of  society  is  always  tolerable,  never  excel 
lent.     I   am  convinced  that,  when  China  is  opened  to  European  ob 
servation,  it  will  be  found  to  contain  the  most  perfect  model  of  acen 
tral  administration  which  exists  in  the  universe. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  89 

rope.  In  no  country  in  the  world  do  the  citizens  make  such 
exertions  for  the  common  weal  ;  and  I  am  acquainted  with 
no  people  which  has  established  schools  as  numerous  and  as 
efficacious,  places  of  public  worship  better  suited  to  the  wants 
of  the  inhabitants,  or  roads  kept  in  better  repair.  Uniformity 
or  permanence  of  design,  the  minute  arrangement  of  details,* 
and  the  perfection  of  an  ingenious  administration,  must  not 
be  sought  for  in  the  United  States ;  but  it  will  be  easy  to 
find,  on  the  other  hand,  the  symptoms  of  a  power,  which,  if 
it  is  somewhat  barbarous,  is  at  least  robust ;  and  of  an  exist 
ence,  which  is  checkered  with  accidents  indeed,  but  cheered 
at  the  same  time  by  animation  and  effort. 

Granting  for  an  instant  that  the  villages  and  counties  of 
the  United  States  would  be  more  usefully  governed  by  a 
remote  authority,  which  they  had  never  seen,  than  by  func 
tionaries  taken  from  the  midst  of  them — admitting,  fo<  the 
sake  of  argument,  that  the  country  would  be  more  secure, 
and  the  resources  of  society  better  employed,  if  the  whole 
administration  centred  in  a  single  arm,  still  the  political  ad 
vantages  which  the  Americans  derive  from  their  system  would 
induce  me  to  prefer  it  to  the  contrary  plan.  It  profits  me 
but  little,  after  all,  that  a  vigilant  authority  protects  the  tran 
quillity  of  my  pleasures,  and  constantly  averts  all  danger 

*  A  writer  of  talent,  who,  in  the  comparison  which  he  has  drawn 
between  the  finances  of  France  and  those  of  the  United  States,  has 
proved  that  ingenuity  cannot  always  supply  the  place  of  a  knowledge 
of  facts,  very  justly  reproaches  the  Americans  for  the  sort  of  confusion 
which  exists  in  the  accounts  of  the  expenditure  in  the  townships; 
and  after  giving  the  model  of  a  departmental  budget  in  France,  he 
adds  :  "  We  are  indebted  to  centralisation,  that  admirable  invention  of 
a  great  man,  for  the  uniform  order  and  method  which  prevail  alike  in 
all  the  municipal  budgets,  from  the  largest  town  to  the  humblest  com 
mune."  Whatever  may  be  my  admiration  of  this  result,  when  I  see 
the  communes  of  France,  with  their  excellent  system  of  accounts, 
plunged  in  the  grossest  ignorance  of  their  true  interests,  and  aban 
doned  to  so  incorrigible  an  apathy  that  they  seem  to  vegetate  rather 
than  to  live;  when,  on  the  other  hand,  I  observe  the  activity,  the 
information,  and  the  spirit  of  enterprise  which  keeps  society  in  per 
petual  labor,  in  those  American  townships  whose  budgets  are  drawn 
up  with  small  method  and  with  still  less  uniformity,  I  am  struck  by 
the  spectacle  ;  for  to  my  mind  the  end  of  a  good  government  is  to 
ensure  the  welfare  of  a  people,  and  not  to  establish  order  and  regu 
larity  in  the  midst  of  its  misery  and  its  distress.  I  am  therefore  led  to 
suppose  that  the  prosperity  of  the  American  townships  and  the  appa 
rent  confusion  of  their  accounts,  the  distress  of  the  French  communes 
dad  the  perfection  of  their  budget,  may  be  attributable  to  the  same 
cause.  At  any  rate  T  am  suspicious  of  a  benefit  which  is  united  to  so 
many  evils,  and  I  am  not  averse  to  an  evil  which  is  compensated  by  so 
manv  benefits. 


90  NECESSITY    OF    EXAMINING    THE 

from  my  path,  without  my  care  or  my  concern,  if  tho  same 
authority  is  the  absolute  mistress  of  my  liberty  and  of  my 
life,  and  if  it  so  monopolises  all  the  energy  of  existence,  that 
when  it  languishes  everything  languishes  around  it,  that 
when  it  sleeps  everything  must  sleep,  that  when  it  dies  the 
state  itself  must  perish. 

In  certain  countries  of  Europe  the  natives  consider  them 
selves  as  a  kind  of  settlers,  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  the  spot 
upon  which  they  live.  The  greatest  changes  are  effected 
without  their  concurrence  and  (unless  chance  may  have 
apprised  them  of  the  event)  without  their  knowledge  ;  nay 
more,  the  citizen  is  unconcerned  as  to  the  condition  of  his 
•  village,  the  police  of  his  street,  the  repairs  of  the  church  or 
the  parsonage  ;  for  he  looks  upon  all  these  things  as  un 
connected  with  himself,  and  as  the  property  of  a  powerful 
stranger  whom  he  calls  the  government.  He  has  only  a  life- 
interest  in  these  possessions,  and  he  entertains  no  notions  of 
ownership  or  of  improvement.  This  want  of  interest  in  his 
own  affairs  goes  so  far,  that  if  his  own  safety  or  that  of  his 
children  is  endangered,  instead  of  trying  to  avert  the  peril, 
he  will  fold  his  arms,  and  wait  till  the  nation  comes  to  his 
assistance.  This  same  individual,  who  has  so  completely 
sacrificed  his  own  free  will,  has  no  natural  propensity  to 
obedience  ;  he  cowers,  it  is  true,  before  the  pettiest  officer ; 
but  he  braves  the  law  with  the  spirit  of  a  conquered  foe  as 
soon  as  its  superior  force  is  removed  :  his  oscillations  between 
servitude  and  license  are  perpetual.  When  a  nation  has 
arrived  at  this  state,  it  must  either  change  its  customs  and  i*s 
laws,  or  perish :  the  source  of  public  virtue  is  dry ;  and 
though  it  may  contain  subjects,  the  race  of  citizens  is  extinct. 
Such  communities  are  a  natural  prey  to  foreign  conquest ; 
and  if  they  do  not  disappear  from  the  scene  of  life,  it  is  be 
cause  they  are  surrounded  by  other  nations  similar  or  infe 
rior  to  themselves ;  it  is  because  the  instinctive  feeling  of 
their  country's  claims  still  exists  in  their  hearts  ;  and  because 
an  involuntary  pride  in  the  name  it  bears,  or  the  vage  remi 
niscence  of  its  by-gone  fame,  suffices  to  give  them  the  impulse 
of  self-preservation. 

Nor  can  the  prodigious  exertions  made  by  certain  people 
in  the  defence  of  a  country,  in  which  they  may  almost  be 
said  to  have  lived  as  aliens,  be  adduced  in  favor  of  such  a 
system ;  for  it  will  be  found  that  in  these  cases  their  main 
incitement  was  religion.  The  permanence,  the  glory,  and 
the  prosperity  of  the  nation,  were  become  parts  of  their  faith  ; 
and  in  defending  the  country  they  inhabited,  they  defended 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  91 

that  holy  city  of  which  they  were  all  citizens.  The  Turkish 
tribes  have  never  taken  an  active  share  in  the  conduct  of  the 
affairs  of  society,  but  they  accomplished  stupendous  enter 
prises  as  long  as  the  victories  of  the  sultans  were  the  triumphs 
of  the  Mohammedan  faith.  In  the  present  age  they  are  in 
rapid  decay,  because  their  religion  is  departing,  and  despo 
tism  only  remains.  Montesquieu,  who  attributed  to  absolute 
power  an  authority  peculiar  to  itself,  did  it,  as  I  conceive, 
undeserved  honor ;  for  despotism,  taken  by  itself,  can  pro 
duce  no  durable  results.  On  close  inspection  we  shall  find 
that  religion,  and  not  fear,  has  ever  been  the  cause  of  the 
long-lived  prosperity  of  absolute  governments.  Whatever 
exertions  may  be  made,  no  true  power  can  be  founded  among 
men  which  does  not  depend  upon  the  free  union  of  their  incli 
nations  ;  and  patriotism  and  religion  are  the  only  two  motives 
in  the  world  which  can  permanently  direct  the  whole  of  a 
body  politic  to  one  end. 

Laws  cannot  succeed  in  rekindling  the  ardor  of  an  extin 
guished  faith  ;  but  men  may  be  interested  in  the  fate  of  their 
country  by  the  laws.  By  this  influence,  the  vague  impulse 
of  patriotism,  which  never  abandons  the  human  heart,  may 
be  directed  and  revived  :  and  if  it  be  connected  with  the 
thoughts,  the  passions  and  daily  habits  of  life,  it  may  be  con 
solidated  into  a  durable  and  rational  sentiment.  Let  it  not 
be  said  that  the  time  for  the  experiment  is  already  past ;  for 
the  old  age  of  nations  is  not  like  the  old  age  of  men,  and 
every  fresh  generation  is  a  new  people  ready  for  the  care  of 
the  legislator. 

It  is  not  the  administrative,  but  the  political  effects  of  the 
local  system  that  I  most  admire  in  America.  In  the  United 
States  the  interests  of  the  country  are  everywhere  kept  in 
view  ;  they  are  an  object  of  solicitude  to  the  people  of  the 
whole  Union,  and  every  citizen  is  as  warmly  attached  to 
them  as  if  they  were  his  own.  He  takes  pride  in  the  glory 
of  his  nation  ;  he  boasts  of  his  success,  to  which  he  conceives 
himself  to  have  contributed  ;  and  he  rejoices  in  the  general 
prosperity  by  which  he  profits.  The  feeling  he  entertains 
toward  the  state  is  analogous  to  that  which  unites  him  to  his 
family,  and  it  is  by  a  kind  of  egotism  that  he  interests  him 
self  in  the  welfare  of  his  country. 

The  European  generally  submits  to  a  public  officer  because 
he  represents  a  superior  force  ;  but  to  an  American  he  repre 
sents  a  right.  In  America  it  may  be  said  that  no  one  renders 
obedience  to  mart,  but  to  justice  and  to  law.  If  the  opinion 
which  the  citizen  entertains  of  himself  is  exaggerated,  it  is 


92  NECESSITY   OF   EXAMINING    THE 

at  least  salutary  ;  he  unhesitatingly  confides  in  his  own  pow 
ers,  which  appear  to  him  to  be  all-sufficient.  When  a  private 
individual  meditates  an  undertaking,  however  directly  con 
nected  it  may  be  with  the  welfare  of  society,  he  never  thinks 
of  soliciting  the  co-operation  of  the  government:  but  he 
publishes  his  plan,  offers  to  execute  it  himself,  courts  the 
assistance  of  other  individuals,  and  struggles  manfully  against 
all  obstacles.  Undoubtedly  he  is  less  successful  than  the 
state  might  have  been  in  his  position  ;  but  in  the  end,  the 
sum  of  these  private  undertakings  far  exceeds  all  that  the 
government  could  effect. 

As  the  administrative  authority  is  within  the  reach  of  the 
citizens,  whom  it  in  some  degree  represents,  it  excites  neither 
their  jealousy  nor  their  hatred  :  as  its  resources  are  limited, 
every  one  feels  that  he  must  not  rely  solely  on  its  assistance. 
Thus  when  the  administration  thinks  fit  to  interfere,  it  is  not 
abandoned  to  itself  as  in  Europe  ;  the  duties  of  the  private 
citizens  are  not  supposed  to  have  lapsed  because  the  state 
assists  in  their  fulfilment ;  but  every  one  is  ready,  on  the 
contrary,  to  guide  and  to  support  it.  This  action  of  individ 
ual  exertions,  joined  to  that  of  the  public  authorities,  fre 
quently  performs  what  the  most  energetic  central  adminis 
tration  would  be  unable  to  execute.  It  would  be  easy  to 
adduce  several  facts  in  proof  of  what  I  advance,  but  I  had 
rather  give  only  one,  with  which  I  am  more  thoroughly  ac 
quainted.*  In  America,  the  means  which  the  authorities 
have  at  their  disposal  for  the  discovery  of  crimes  and  the 
arrest  of  criminals  are  few.  A  state  police  does  not  exist, 
and  passports  are  unknown.  The  criminal  police  of  the 
United  States  cannot  be  compared  with  that  of  France ;  the 
magistrates  and  public  prosecutors  are  not  numerous,  and  the 
examinations  of  prisoners  are  rapid  and  oral.  Nevertheless 
in  no  country  does  crime  more  rarely  elude  punishment. 
The  reason  is  that  every  one  conceives  himself  to  be  interested 
in  furnishing  evidence  of  the  act  committed,  and  in  stopping 
the  delinquent.  During  my  stay  in  the  United  States,  I  saw 
the  spontaneous  formation  of  committees  for  the  pursuit  and 
prosecution  of  a  man  who  had  committed  a  great  crime  in  a 
certain  county.  In  Europe  a  criminal  is  an  unhappy  being, 
who  is  struggling  for  his  life  against  the  ministers  of  justice, 
while  the  population  is  merely  a  spectator  of  the  conflict :  in 
America  he  is  looked  upon  as  an  enemy  of  the  human  race, 
and  the  whole  of  mankind  is  against  him. 

• 

*  See  Appendix  I. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    STATES.  93 

I  believe  that  provincial  institutions  are  useful  to  all  na 
tions,  but  nowhere  do  they  appear  to  me  to  be  more  indis 
pensable  than  among  a  democratic  people.  In  an  aristocracy, 
order  can  always  be  maintained  in  the  midst  of  liberty  ;  and 
as  thn  rulers  have  a  great  deal  to  lose,  order  is  to  them  a  first- 
rate  consideration.  In  like  manner  an  aristocracy  protects 
the  people  from  the  excesses  of  despotism,  because  it  always 
possesses  an  organized  power  ready  to  resist  a  despot.  But 
a  democracy  without  provincial  institutions  has  no  security 
against  these  evils.  How  can  a  populace,  unaccustomed  to 
freedom  in  small  concerns,  learn  to  use  it  temperately  in 
great  affairs  ?  What  resistance  can  be  offered  to  tyranny  in 
a  country  where  every  private  individual  is  impotent,  and 
where  the  citizens  are  united  by  no  common  tie  ?  Those 
who  dread  the  license  of  the  mob,  and  those  who  fear  the 
rule  of  absolute  power,  ought  alike  to  desire  the  progressive 
growth  of  provincial  liberties. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  am  convinced  that  democratic  nations 
are  most  exposed  to  fall  beneath  the  yoke  of  a  central  ad 
ministration,  for  several  reasons,  among  which  is  the  fol 
lowing  : — 

The  constant  tendency  of  these  nations  is  to  concentrate  all 
the  strength  of  the  government  in  the  hands  of  the  only  power 
which  directly  represents  the  people :  because,  beyond  the 
people  nothing  is  to  be  perceived  but  a  mass  of  equal  indivi 
duals  confounded  together.  But  when  the  same  power  is 
already  in  possession  of  all  the  attributes  of  the  government, 
it  can  scarcely  refrain  from  penetrating  into  the  details  of  the 
administration  ;  and  an  opportunity  of  doing  so  is  sure  to  pre 
sent  itself  in  the  end,  as  was  the  case  in  France.  In  the 
French  revolution  there  were  two  impulses  in  opposite  direc 
tions,  which  must  never  be  confounded ;  the  one  was  favora 
ble  to  liberty,  the  other  to  despotism.  Under  the  ancient 
monarchy  the  king  was  the  sole  author  of  the  laws ;  and  be 
low  the  power  of  the  sovereign,  certain  vestiges  of  provincial 
institutions  half-destroyed,  were  still  distinguishable.  These 
provincial  institutions  were  incoherent,  ill-compacted,  and  fre 
quently  absurd ;  in  the  hands  of  the  aristocracy  they  had 
sometimes  been  converted  into  instruments  of  oppression. 
The  revolution  declared  itself  the  enemy  of  royalty  and  of 
provincial  institutions  at  the  same  time  ;  it  confounded  all 
that  had  preceded  it — despotic  power  and  '¥he  checks  to  its 
abuses — in  an  indiscriminate  hatred  ;  and  its  tendency  was 
at  once  to  republicanism  and  to  centralisation.  This  double 
character  of  the  French  revolution  is  a  fact  which  has  been 

. 


94  JUDICIAL    POWER    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES, 

adroitly  handled  by  the  friends  of  absolute  power.  Can  they 
be  accused  of  laboring  in  the  cause  of  despotism,  when  they 
are  defending  of  the  revolution  ?*  In  this  manner  popularity 
may  be  conciliated  with  hostility  to  the  rights  of  the  people, 
and  the  secret  slave  of,  tyranny  may  be  the  professed  admirer 
of  freedom. 

I  have  visited  the  two  nations  in  which  the  system  of  pro 
vincial  liberty  has  been  most  perfectly  established,  and  I  have 
listened  to  the  opinions  of  different  parties  in  those  countries. 
In  America  I  met  with  men  who  secretly  aspired  to  destroy 
the  democratic  institutions  of  the  Union  ;  in  England,  I  found 
others  who  attacked  aristocracy  openly ;  but  I  know  of  no 
1  one  who  does  not  regard  provincial  independence  as  a  great 
benefit.  In  both  countries  I  have  heard  a  thousand  different 
causes  assigned  for  the  evils  of  the  state ;  but  the  local  sys 
tem  was  never  mentioned  among  them.  I  have  heard  citizens 
attribute  the  power  and  prosperity  of  their  country  to  a  mul 
titude  of  reasons  :  but  they  all  placed  the  advantages  of  local 
institutions  in  the  foremost  rank. 

Am  I  to  suppose  that  when  men  who  are  naturally  so 
divided  on  religious  opinions,  and  on  political  theories,  agree 
on  one  point  (and  that,  one  of  which  they  have  daily  experi 
ence),  they  are  all  in  error  ?  The  only  nations  which  deny 
the  utility  of  provincial  liberties  are  those  which  have  fewest 
of  them  ;  in  other  words,  those  who  are  unacquainted  with 
the  institution  are  the  only  persons  who  pass  a  censure 
upon  it. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

JUDICIAL   POWER    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES,  AND    ITS    INFLUENCE 
ON    POLITICAL    SOCIETY. 

The  Anglo-Americans  have  retained  the  Characteristics  of  judicial 
Power  which  are  common  to  all  Nations. — They  have,  however, 
made  it  a  powerful  political  Orsan. — How. — In  what  the  judicial 
System  of  the  Anglo-Americans  differs  from  that  of  all  other  Na 
tions. — Why  the  American  Judges  have  the  right  of  declaring  the 
Laws  to  be  Unconstitutional. — How  they  use  this  Right. — Precau 
tions  taken  by  the  Legislator  to  prevent  its  abuse. 

I  HAVE  thought  it  essential  to  devote  a  separate  chapter  to  the 
judicial  authorities  of  the  United  States,  lest  their  great  poli- 

*  See  Appendix  K. 


AND    ITS    INFLUENCE    ON    POLITICAL    SOCIETY.  95 

tical  importance  should  be  lessened  in  the  reader's  eyes  by  a 
merely  incidental  mention  of  them.  Confederations  have  ex 
isted  in  other  countries  beside  America  ;  and  republics  have 
not  been  established  on  the  shores  of  the  New  World  alone  : 
the  representative  system  of  government  has  been  adopted  in 
/  several  states  of  Europe  ;  but  I  am  not  aware  that  any  nation 
I  of  the  globe  has  hitherto  organized  a  judicial  power  on  the 
principle  adopted  by  the  Americans.  The  judicial  organiza-  I 
tion  of  the  United  States  is  the  institution  which  the  stranger  \ 
has  the  greatest  difficulty  in  understanding.  He  hears  the  ' 
authority  of  a  judge  invoked  in  the  political  occurrences  of 
every  day,  and  he  naturally  concludes  that  in  the  United 
States  the  judges  are  important  political  functionaries  :  never 
theless,  when  he  examines  the  nature  of  the  tribunals,  they 
offer  nothing  which  is  contrary  to  the  usual  habits  and  privi 
leges  of  those  bodies ;  and  the  magistrates  seem  to  him  to  in 
terfere  in  public  affairs  by  chance,  but  by  a  chance  which 
recurs  every  day. 

When  the  Parliament  of  Paris  remonstrated,  or  refused  to 
enregister  an  edict,  or  when  it  summoned  a  functionary 
accused  of  malversation  to  its  bar,  its  political  influence  as  a 
judicial  body  was  clearly  visible  ;  but  nothing  of  the  kind  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  United  States.  The  Americans  have  re 
tained  all  the  ordinary  characteristics  of  judicial  authority, 
and  have  carefully  restricted  its  action  to  the  ordinary  circle 
of  its  functions. 

The  first  characteristic  of  judicial  power  in  all  nations  is 
the  duty  of  arbitration.  But  rights  must  be  contested  in 
order  to  warrant  the  interference  of  a  tribunal ;  and  an  action 
must  be  brought  to  obtain  the  decision  of  a  judge.  As  long, 
therefore,  as  a  law  is  uncontested,  the  judicial  authority  is  not 
called  upon  to  discuss  it,  and  it  may  exist  without  being  per 
ceived.  When  a  judge  in  a  given  case  attacks  a  law  relating 
to  that  case,  he  extends  the  circle  of  his  customary  duties, 
without,  however,  stepping  beyond  it ;  since  he  is  in  some 
measure  obliged  to  decide  upon  the  law,  in  order  to  decide 
the  case.  But  if  he  pronounces  upon  a  law  without  resting  ' 
upon  a  case,  he  clearly  steps  beyond  his  sphere,  and  invades  j 
that  of  the  legislative  authority. 

The  second  characteristic  of  judicial  power  is,  that  it  pro-  , 
nounces  on  special  cases,  and  not  upon  general  principles.   } 
If  a  judge,  in  deciding  a  particular  point,  destroys  a  general 
principle,  by  passing  a  judgment  which  tends  to  reject  all  the 
inferences  from  that  principle,  and  consequently  to  annul  it, 
he  remains  within  the  ordinary  limits  or  his  functions.     But 


96  JUDICIAL    POWER    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES, 

if  he  directly  attacks  a  general  principle  without  having  a 
particular  case  in  view,  he  leaves  the  circle  in  which  all  na-  / 
tions  have  agreed  to  confine  his  authority ;  he  assumes  a  • 
more  important,  and  perhaps  a  more  useful  influence  than  I 
that  of  the  magistrate,  but  he  ceases  to  represent  the  judicial  ( 
power. 

The  third  characteristic  of  the  judicial  power  is  its  inability  x 
to  act  unless  it  is  appealed  to,  or  until  it  has  taken  cognizance 
of  an  affair.  This  characteristic  is  less  general  than  the  other 
two ;  but  notwithstanding  the  exceptions,  I  think  it  may  be 
regarded  as  essential.  The  judicial  power  is  by  its  nature 
devoid  of  action ;  it  mu$t  be  put  in  motion  in  order  to  pro- 
'duce  a  result.  When  it  is  called  upon  to  repress  a  crime,  it 
punishes  the  criminal ;  when  a  wrong  is  to  be  redressed,  it  is 
ready  to  redress  it ;  when  an  act  requires  interpretation,  it  is 
prepared  to  interpret  it ;  but  it  does  not  pursue  criminals, 
hunt  out  wrongs,  or  examine  into  evidence  of  its  own  accord. 
A  judicial  functionary  who  should  open  proceedings,  and 
usurp  the  censorship  of  the  laws,  would  in  some  measure  do  [ 
violence  to  the  passive  nature  of  his  authority. 

The  Americans  have  retained  these  three  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  the  judicial  power;  an  American  judge 
can  only  pronounce  a  decision  when  litigation  has  arisen,  he 
is  only  conversant  with  special  cases,  and  he  cannot  act  until 
the  cause  has  been  duly  brought  before  the  court.  His  posi 
tion  is  therefore  perfectly  similar  to  that  of  the  magistrate  of 
other  nations  ;  and  he  is  nevertheless  invested  with  immense 
political  power.  If  the  sphere  of  his  authority  and  his  means 
of  action  are  the  same  as  those  of  other  judges,  it  may  be 
asked  whence  he  derives  a  power  which  they  do  not  possess. 
The  cause  of  this  difference  lies  in  the  simple  fact  that  the 
Americans  have  acknowledged  the  right  of  the  judges  to 
found  their  decisions  on  the  constitution,  rather  than  on  the 
laws.  In  other  words,  they  have  left  them  at  liberty  not  to 
apply  such  laws  as  may  appear  to  them  to  be  unconstitutional. 

I  am  aware  that  a  similar  right  has  been  claimed — but 
claimed  in  vain — by  courts  of  justice  in  other  countries  ;  but 
in  America  it  is  recognized  by  all  the  authorities ;  and  not  a 
party,  nor  so  much  as  an  individual,  is  found  to  contest  it. 
This  fact  can  only  be  explained  by  the  principles  of  the  Ame 
rican  constitution.  In  France  the  constitution  is  (or  at  least 
is  supposed  to  be)  immutable  ;  and  the  received  theory  is 
that  no  power  has  the  right  of  changing  any  part  of  it.  In 
England,  the  parliament  has  an  acknowledged  right  to  modify 
the  constitution  ;  as,  therefore,  the  constitution  may  undergo 


17= 

AND    ITS    INFLUENCE    ON    POLITICAL    SOClETi'.  9/ 

perpetual  changes,  it  does  not  in  reality  exist ;  the  parliament 
is  at  once  a  legislative  and  a  constituent  assembly.  The  po 
litical  theories  of  America  are  more  simple  and  more  rational. 
An  American  constitution  is  not  supposed  to  be  immutable 
as  in  France ;  nor  is  it  susceptible  of  modification  by  the 
ordinary  powers  of  society  as  in  England.  It  constitutes  a 
detached  whole,  which,  as  it  represents  the  determination  of 
the  whole  people,  is  no  less  binding  on  the  legislator  than  on 
the  private  citizen,  but  which  may  be  altered  by  the  will  of 
the  people  in  predetermined  cases,  according  to  established 
rules.  In  America  the  constitution  may,  therefore,  vary,  but 
as  long  as  it  exists  it  is  the  origin  of  all  authority,  and  the 
sole  vehicle  of  the  predominating  force.* 

It  is  easy  to  perceive  in  what  manner  these  differences  must 
act  upon  the  position  and  the  rights  of  the  judicial  bodies  in 
the  three  countries  I  have  cited.  If  in  France  the  tribunals 
were  authorized  to  disobey  the  laws  on  the  ground  of  their 
being  opposed  to  the  constitution,  the  supreme  power  would  in 
fact  be  placed  in  their  hands,  since  they  alone  would  have 
the  right  of  interpreting  a  constitution,  the  clauses  of  which 
can  be  modified  by  no  authority.  They  would,  therefore,  take 
the  place  of  the  nation,  and  exercise  as  absolute  a  sway  over 
society  as  the  inherent  weakness  of  judicial  power  would 
allow  them  to  do.  Undoubtedly,  as  the  French  judges  are 
incompetent  to  declare  a  law  to  be  unconstitutional,  the  power 
of  changing  the  constitution  is  indirectly  given  to  the  legisla 
tive  body,  since  no  legal  barrier  would  oppose  the  alterations 
which  it  might  prescribe.  But  it  is  better  to  grant  the  power 
of  changing  the  constitution  of  the  people  to  men  who  repre 
sent  (however  imperfectly)  the  will  of  the  people,  than  to 
men  who  represent  no  one  but  themselves. 

It  would  be  still  more  unreasonable  to  invest  the  English 
judges  with  the  right  of  resisting  the  decisions  of  the  legis 
lative  body,  since  the  parliament  which  makes  the  laws  also 
makes  the  constitution  ;  and  consequently  a  law  emanating 
from  the  three  powers  of  the  state  can  in  no  case  be  uncon 
stitutional.  But  neither  of  these  remarks  is  applicable  to 
Arnerica.f 

In  the  United  States  the  constitution  governs  the  legislator 
as  much  as  the  private  citizen  :  as  it  is  the  first  of  laws,  it 
cannot  be  modified  by  a  law  ;  and  it  is  therefore  just  that  the 
tribunals  should  obey  the  constitution  in  preference  to  any 
law.  This  condition  is  essential  to  the  power  of  the  judica- 

*  See  Appendix  L.  f  See  Appendix  M. 


- 


JUDICIAL    POWER    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES, 

ture  ;  for  to  select  that  legal  obligation  by  which  he  is  most 
strictly  bound,  is  the  natural  right  of  every  magistrate. 

In  France  the  constitution  is  also  the  first  of  laws,  and  the 
judges  have  the  same  right  to  take  it  as  the  ground  of  their 
decisions;  but  were  they  to  exercise  this  right,  they  must 
perforce  encroach  on  rights  more  sacred  than  their  own, 
namely,  on  those  of  society,  in  whose  name  they  are  acting. 
In  this  case  the  state  motive  clearly  prevails  over  the  motives 
of  an  individual.  In  America,  where  the  nation  can  always 
reduce  its  magistrates  to  obedience  by  changing  its  constitu 
tion,  no  danger  of  this  kind  is  to  be  feared.  Upon  this  point 
therefore  the  political  and  the  logical  reason  agree,  and  the 
people  as  well  as  the  judges  preserve  their  privileges. 

Whenever  a  law  which  the  judge  holds  to  be  unconstitu 
tional  io  argued  in  a  tribunal  of  the  United  States,  he  may  re 
fuse  to  admit  it  as  a  rule  ;  this  power  is  the  only  one  which 
is  peculiar  to  the  American  magistrate,  but  it  gives  rise  to 
immense  political  influence.  Few  laws  can  escape  the 
searching  analysis  ;  for  there  are  few  which  are  not  prejudi 
cial  to  some  private  interest  or  other,  and  none  which  may 
not  be  brought  before  a  court  of  justice  by  the  choice  of 
parties,  or  by  the  necessity  of  the  case.  But  from  the  time 
that  a  judge  has  refused  to  apply  any  given  law  in  a  case, 
that  law  loses  a  portion  of  its  moral  sanction.  The  persons 
to  whose  interest  it  is  prejudicial,  learn  that  means  exist  of 
evading  its "  authority  ;  and  similar  suits  are  multiplied,  until 
it  becomes  powerless*  One  of  two  alternatives  must  then  be 
resorted  to :  the  people  must  alter  the  constitution,  or  the  le 
gislature  must  repeal  the  law. 

The  political  power  which  the  Americans  have  intrusted  to 
their  courts  of  justice  is  therefore  immense  ;  but  the  evils  of 
this  power  are  considerably  diminished,  by  the  obligation 
which  has  been  imposed  of  attacking  the  laws  through  the 
courts  of  justice  alone.  If  the  judge  had  been  empowered 
to  contest  the  laws  on  the  ground  of  theoretical  generalities ; 
if  he  had  been  enabled  to  open  an  attack  or  to  pass  a  censure 
on  the  legislator,  he  would  have  played  a  prominent  part  in 
the  political  sphere  ;  and  as  the  champion  or  the  antagonist 
of  a  party,  he  would  have  arrayed  the  hostile  passions  of  the 
nation  in  the  conflict.  But  when' a  judge  contests  a  law,  ap 
plied  to  some  particular  case  in  an  obscure  proceeding,  the 
importance  of  his  attack  is  concealed  from  the  public  gaze ; 
his  decision  bears  upon  the  interest  of  an  individual,  and  if  the 
law  is  slighted,  it  is  only  collaterally.  Moreover,  although  it 
be  censured,  it  is  not  abolished  ;  its  moral  force  may  be  diani- 


AND    ITS    INFLUENCE    ON    POLITICAL    SOCIETY.  90 

nislied,  but  its  cogency  is  by  no  means  suspended  ;  and  its 
final  destruction  can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  reiterated 
attacks  of  judicial  functionaries.  It  will  readily  be  under 
stood  that  by  connecting  the  censorship  of  the  laws  with  the 
private  interests  of  members  of  the  community,  and  by  inti 
mately  uniting  the  prosecution  of  the  law  with  the  prosecu 
tion  of  an  individual,  the  legislation  is  protected  from  wanton 
assailants,  and  from  the  daily  aggressions  .of  party  spirit. 
The  errors  of  the  legislator  are  exposed  whenever  their  evil 
consequences  are  most  felt ;  and  it  is  always  a  positive  and 
appreciable  fact  which  serves  as  the  basis  of  a  prosecution. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  this  practice  of  the  American 
courts  to  be  at  once  the  most  favorable  to  liberty  as  well  as  to 
public  order.  If  the  judge  could  only  attack  the  legislator 
openly  and  directly,  he  would  sometimes  be  afraid  to  oppose 
any  resistance  to  his  will ;  and  at  other  moments  party  spirit 
might  encourage  him  to  brave  it  every  day.  The  laws  would 
consequently  be  attacked  when  the  power  from  which  they 
emanate  is  weak,  and  obeyed  when  it  is  strong.  That  is  to 
say,  when  it  would  be  useful  to  respect  them,  they  would  be 
contested ;  and  when  it  would  be  easy  to  convert  them  into 
an  instrument  of  oppression,  they  would  be  respected.  But 
the  American  judge  is  brought  into  the  political  arena  inde 
pendently  of  his  own  will.  He  only  judges  the  law  be 
cause  he  is  obliged  to  judge  a  case.  The  political  question 
which  he  is  called  upon  to  resolve  is  connected  with  the  inte 
rest  of  the  parties,  and  he  cannot  refuse  to  decide  it  without 
abdicating  the  duties  of  his  post.  He  performs  his  functions 
as  a  citizen  by  fulfilling  the  strict  duties  which  belong  to  his 
profession  as  a  magistrate.  It  is  true  that  upon  this  system 
the  judicial  censorship  which  is  exercised  by  the  courts  of 
justice  over  the  legislation  cannot  extend  to  all  laws  indis 
criminately,  inasmuch  as  some  of  them  can  never  give  rise 
to  that  precise  species  of  contestation  which  is  termed  a  law 
suit  ;  and  even  when  such  a  contestation  is  possible,  it  may 
happen  that  no  one  cares  to  bring  it  before  a  court  of  justice. 
The  Americans  have  often  felt  this  disadvantage,  but  they 
have  left  the  remedy  incomplete,  lest  they  should  give  it  effi 
cacy  which  in  some  cases  might  prove  dangerous.  Within 
these  limits,  the  power  vested  in  the  American  courts  of  jus 
tice  of  pronouncing  a  statute  to  be  unconstitutional,  forms  one 
of  the  most  powerful  barriers  which  have  ever  been  devised 
against  the  tyranny  of  political  assemblies. 


tOO  JUDICIAL    POWER    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES, 


OTHER  POWERS  GRANTED  TO  THE  AMERICAN  JUDGES. 

[n  the  United  States  all  the  Citizens  have  the  Right  of  indicting  the 
public  Functionaries  before  the  ordinary  Tribunals. — How  they  use 
this  Right. — Art  75  of  the  An  VIII. — The  Americans  and  the  English 
cannot  understand  the  Purport  of  this  Clause. 

IT  is  perfectly  natural  that  in  a  free  country  like  America  all 
the  citizens  should  have  the  right  of  indicting  public  func 
tionaries  before  the  ordinary  tribunals,  and  that  all  the  judges 
should  have  the  power  of  punishing  public  offences.  The 
right  granted  to  the  courts  of  justice,  of  judging  the  agents  of 
the  executive  government,  when  they  have  violated  the  laws, 
is  so  natural  a  one  that  it  cannot  be  looked  upon  as  an  extra- 
ordinary  privilege.  Nor  do  the  springs  of  government  appeal 
to  me  to  be  weakened  in  the  United  States  by  the  custom 
which  renders  all  public  officers  responsible  to  the  judges  of 
the  land.  The  Americans  seem,  on  the  contrary,  to  have 
increased  by  this  means  that  respect  which  is  due  to  the 
authorities,  and  at  the  same  time  to  have  rendered  those  who 
are  in  power  more  scrupulous  of  offending  public  opinion.  I 
was  struck  by  the  small  number  of  political  trials  which  occur 
in  the  United  States  ;  but  I  have  no  difficulty  in  accounting 
for  this  circumstance.  A  lawsuit,  of  whatever  nature  it  may 
be,  is  always  a  difficult  and  expensive  undertaking.  It  is 
easy  to  attack  a  public  man  in  a  journal,  but  the  motives 
which  can  warrant  an  action  at  law  must  be  serious.  A 
solid  ground  of  complaint  must  therefore  exist,  to  induce  an 
individual  to  prosecute  a  public  officer,  and  public  officers  are 
careful  not  to  furnish  these  grounds  of  complaint,  when  they 
are  afraid  of  being  prosecuted. 

This  does  not  depend  upon  the  republican  form  of  the 
American  institutions,  for  the  same  facts  present  themselves 
in  England.  These  two  nations  do  not  regard  the  impeach- 
ment  of  the  principal  officers  of  state  as  a  sufficient  guarantee 
of  their  independence.  But  they  hold  that  the  right  of  minor 
prosecutions,  which  are  within  the  reach  of  the  whole  com 
munity,  is  a  better  pledge  of  freedom  than  those  great  judicial 
actions  which  are  rarely  employed  until  it  is  too  late. 

In  the  middle  ages,  when  it  was  very  difficult  to  overtake 
offenders,  the  judges  inflicted  the  most  dreadful  tortures  on 
the  few  who  were  arrested,  which  by  no  means  diminished 
the  number  of  crimes.  It  has  since  been  discovered  tha 
when  justice  is  more  certain  and  more  mild,  it  is  at  the  same 
time  more  efficacious.  The  English  and  the  Americans  hold 


AND    ITS    INFLUENCE    ON    POLITICAL    SOCIETY.  101 

that  tyranny  and  oppression  are  to  be  treated  like  any  other 
crime,  by  lessening  the  penalty  and  facilitating  conviction. 

In  the  year  VIII.  of  the  French  republic,  a  constitution  was 
drawn  up  in  which  the  following  clause  was  introduced : 
"  Art.  75.  All  the  agents  of  the  government  below  the  rank 
of  ministers  can  only  be  prosecuted  for  offences  relating  to 
their  several  functions  by  virtue  of  a  decree  of  the  conseil 
d'etat ;  in  which  case  the  prosecution  takes  place  before  the 
ordinary  tribunals."  This  clause  survived  the  "  Constitution 
de  1'an  VIII.,"  and  it  is  still  maintained  in  spite  of  the  just 
complaints  of  the  nation.  I  have  always  found  the  utmost 
difficulty  in  explaining  its  meaning  to  Englishmen  or  Ameri 
cans.  They  were  at  once  led  to  conclude  that  the  conseil 
d'etat  in  France  was  a  great  tribunal,  established  in  the 
centre  of  the  kingdom,  which  exercised  a  preliminary  and 
somewhat  tyrannical  jurisdiction  in  all  political  causes.  But 
when  1  told  them  that  the  conseil  d'etat  was  not  a  judicial 
body,  in  the  common  sense  of  the  terrn,  but  an  administrative 
council  composed  of  men  dependent  on  the  crown — so  that 
the  king,  after  having  ordered  one  of  his  servants,  called  a 
prefect,  to  commit  an  injustice,  has  the  power  of  commanding 
another  of  his  servants,  called  a  councillor  of  state,  to  prevent 
the  former  from  being  punished — when  I  demonstrated  to 
them  that  the  citizen  who  had  been  injured  by  the  order  of 
the  sovereign  is  obliged  to  solicit  from  the  sovereign  permission 
to  obtain  redress,  they  refused  to  credit  so  flagrant  an  abuse, 
and  were  tempted  to  accuse  me  of  falsehood  or  of  ignorance. 
It  frequently  happened  before  the  revolution  that  a  parliament 
issued  a  warrant  against  a  public  officer  who  had  committed 
an  offence  ;  and  sometimes  the  proceedings  were  annulled  by 
the  authority  of  the  crown.  Despotism  then  displayed  itself 
openly,  and  obedience  was  extorted  by  force.  We  have  then 
retrograded  from  the  point  which  our  forefathers  had  reached, 
since  we  allow  things  to  pass  under  the  color  of  justice  and 
the  sanction  of  the  law,  which  violence  alone  could  impose 
upon  them. 

10* 


102  POLITICAL    JURISDICTION 

CHAPTER  VII. 

POLITICAL  JURISDICTION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Definition  of  political  Jurisdiction. — What  is  understood  by  political 
Jurisdiction  in  France,  in  England,  and  in  the  United  states. — In 
America  the  political  Judge  can  only  pass  Sentence  on  public  Offi 
cers. — He  more  frequently  passes  a  Sentence  of  Removal  from  Office 
than  a  Penalty. — -Political  Jurisdiction,  as  it  Exists,  in  the  United 
States,  is,  notwithstanding  its  Mildness,  and  perhaps  in  Consequence 
of  that  Mildness,  a  most  powerful  Instrument  in  the  Hands  of  the 
Majority. 

I  UNDERSTAND,  by  political  jurisdiction,  that  temporary  right  of 
pronouncing  a  legal  decision  with  which  a  political  body  may 
be  invested. 

In  absolute  governments  no  utility  can  accrue  from  the 
introduction  of  extraordinary  forms  of  procedure  ;  the  prince, 
in  whose  name  an  offender  is  prosecuted,  is  as  much  the 
sovereign  of  the  courts  of  justice  as  of  everything  else,  and 
the  idea  which  is  entertained  of  his  power  is  of  itself  a  suffi 
cient  security.  The  only  thing  he  has  to  fear  is,  that  the 
external  formalities  of  justice  may  be  neglected,  and  that  his 
authority  may  be  dishonored,  from  a  wish  to  render  it  more 
absolute.  But  in  most  free  countries,  in  which  the  majority 
can  never  exercise  the  same  influence  upon  the  tribunals  as 
an  absolute  monarch,  the  judicial  power  has  occasionally  be<  n 
vested  for  a  time  in  the  representatives  of  society.  It  has 
been  thought  better  to  introduce  a  temporary  confusion 
between  the  functions  of  the  different  authorities,  than  to 
violate  the  necessary  principle  of  the  unity  of  government. 

England,  France,  and  the  United  States,  have  established 
this  political  jurisdiction  in  their  laws  ;  and  it  is  curious  to 
examine  the  different  use  which  these  three  great  nations  have 
made  of  the  principle.  In  England  and  in  France  the  house 
of  lords  and  the  chambre  des  pairs  constitute  the  highest 
criminal  court  of  their  respective  nations ;  and  although  they 
do  not  habitually  try  all  political  offences,  they  are  competent 
to  try  them  all.  Another  political  body  enjoys  the  right  of 
impeachment  before  the  house  of  lords  :  the  only  difference 
which  exists  between  the  two  countries  in  this  respect  is,  that 
in  England  the  commons  may  impeach  whomsoever  they 
please  before  the  lords,  while  in  France  the  deputies  can  only 
employ  this  mode  of  prosecution  against  the  ministers  of  the 
crown. 


iN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  103 

In  both  countries  the  upper  house  make  use  of  all  the  ex. 
isting  penal  laws  of  the  nation  to  punish  the  delinquents. 

In  the  United  States,  as  well  as  in  Europe,  one  branch  of 
the  legislature  is  authorized  to  impeach,  and  another  to  judge  : 
the  house  of  representatives  arraigns  the  offender,  and  the 
senate  awards  his  sentence.  But  the  senate  can  only  try 
such  persons  as  are  brought  before  it  by  the  house  of  repre 
sentatives,  and  those  persons  must  belong  to  the  class  of 
public  functionaries.  Thus  the  jurisdiction  of  the  senate  is 
less  extensive  than  that  of  the  peers  of  France,  while  the 
right  of  impeachment  by  the  representatives  is  more  general 
than  that  of  the  deputies.  But  the  great  difference  which 
exists  between  Europe  and  America  is,  that  in  Europe  politi 
cal  tribunals  are  empowered  to  inflict  all  the  dispositions  of 
the  penal  code,  while  in  America,  when  they  have  deprived 
the  offender  of  his  official  rank,  and  have  declared  him  inca 
pable  of  filling  any  political  office  for  the  future,  their  juris 
diction  terminates  and  that  of  the  ordinary  tribunals  begins. 

Suppose,  for  instance,  that  the  president  of  the  United 
States  has  committed  the  crime  of  high  treason  ;  the  house  of 
representatives  impeaches  him,  and  the  senate  degrades  him  • 
he  must  then  be  tried  by  a  jury,  which  alone  can  deprive  him 
of  his  liberty  or  his  life.  This  accurately  illustii^&s  the 
subject  we  are  treating.  The  political  jurisdiction  which  is 
established  by  the  laws  of  Europe  is  intended  to  try  great 
offenders,  whatever  may  be  their  birth,  their  rank,  or  their 
powers  in  the  state  ;  and  to  this  end  all  the  privileges  of  the 
courts  of  justice  are  temporarily  extended  to  a  great  political 
assembly.  The  legislator  is  then  transformed  into  a  magis 
trate  :  he  is  called  upon  to  admit,  to  distinguish,  and  to  punish 
the  offence  ;  and  as  he  exercises  all  the  authority  of  a  judge, 
the  law  restricts  him  to  the  observance  of  all  the  duties 
of  that  high  office,  and  of  all  the  formalities  of  justice.  When  a 
public  functionary  is  impeached  before  an  English  or  a  French 
political  tribunal,  and  is  found  guilty,  the  sentence  deprives 
him  ipso  facto  of  his  functions,  and  it  may  pronounce  him  to 
be  incapable  of  resuming  them  or  any  others  for  the  future. 
But  in  this  case  the  political  interdict  is  a  consequence  of  the 
sentence,  and  not  the  sentence  itself.  In  Europe  the  sentence 
of  a  political  tribunal  is  therefore  to  be  regarded  as  a  judicial 
verdict,  rather  than  as  an  administrative  measure.  In  the 
United  States  the  contrary  takes  place  ;  and  although  the 
decision  of  the  senate  is  judicial  in  its  form,  since  the  senators 
are  obliged  to  comply  with  the  practices  and  formalities  of  a 
court  of  justice  ;  although  it  is  judicial  in  rosprct  to  tho 


104  POLITICAL   JURISDICTION 

motives  on  which  it  is  founded,  since  the  senate  is  in  general 
obliged  to  take  an  offence  at  common  law  as  the  basis  of  its 
sentence  ;  nevertheless  the  object  of  the  proceeding  is  purely 
administrative. 

If  it  had  been  the  intention  of  the  American  legislator  to 
invest  a  political  body  with  great  judicial  authority,  its  ac 
tion  would  not  have  been  limited  to  the  circle  of  public  func 
tionaries,  since  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  the  state  may 
be  in  the  possession  of  no  functions  at  all  ;  and  this  is  espe 
cially  true  in  republics,  where  party  favor  is  the  first  of 
authorities,  and  where  the  strength  of  many  a  leader  is  in 
creased  by  his  exercising  no  legal  power.  If  it  had  been  the 
intention  of  the  American  legislator  to  give  society  the  means 
of  repressing  state  offences  by  exemplary  punishment,  ac 
cording  to  the  practice  of  ordinary  judgment,  the  resources 
of  the  penal  code  would  all  have  been  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  political  tribunals.  But  the  weapon  with  which  they 
are  intrusted  is  an  imperfect  one,  and  it  can  never  reach  the 
most  dangerous  offenders  ;  since  men  who  aim  at  the  entire 
subversion  of  the  laws  are  not  likely  to  murmur  at  a  political 
interdict. 

The  main  object  of  the  political  jurisdiction  which  obtains 
in  the  United  States  is,  therefore,  to  deprive  the  citizen  of  an 
authority  which  he  has  used  amiss,  and  to  prevent  him  from 
ever  acquiring  it  again.  This  is  evidently  an  administra 
tive  measure  sanctioned  by  the  formalities  of  judicial  investi 
gation.  In  this  matter  the  Americans  have  created  a  mixed 
system :  they  have  surrounded  the  act  which  removes  a  pub 
lic  functionary  with  the  securities  of  a  political  trial ;  and 
they  have  deprived  all  political  condemnations  of  their  sever 
est  penalties.  Every  link  of  the  system  may  easily  be 
traced  from  this  point ;  we  at  once  perceive  why  the  Ameri 
can  constitutions  subject  all  the  civil  functionaries  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  senate,  while  the  military,  whose  crimes 
are  nevertheless  more  formidable,  are  exempt  from  that  tri 
bunal.  In  the  civil  service  none  of  the  American  functiona 
ries  can  be  said  to  be  removeable  ;  the  places  which  some 
of  them  occupy  are  inalienable,  and  the  others  derive  their 
rights  from  a  power  which  cannot  be  abrogated.  It  is  there 
fore  necessary  to  try  them  all  in  order  to  deprive  them  of 
their  authority.  But  military  officers  are  dependent  on  the 
chief  magistrate  of  the  state,  who  is  himself  a  civil  function 
ary  ;  and  the  decision  which  condemns  him  is  a  blow  upon 
them  all. 

If  we  now  compare  the  American  and  European  systems, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  105 

we  shall  meet  with  differences  no  less  striking  in- the  differ 
ent  effects  which  each  of  them  produces  or  may  produce,  in 
France  and  in  England  the  jurisdiction  of  political  bodies  is 
looked  upon  as  an  extraordinary  resource,  which  is  only  to 
be  employed  in  order  to  rescue  society  from  unwonted  dan 
gers.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  these  tribunals,  as  they  are 
constituted  in  Europe,  are  apt  to  violate  the  conservative 
principle  of  the  balance  of  power  in  the  state,  and  to  threaten 
incessantly  the  lives  and  liberties  of  the  subject.  The  same 
political  jurisdiction  in  the  United  States  is  only  indirectly 
hostile  to  the  balance  of  power ;  it  cannot  menace  the  lives 
of  the  citizens,  and  it  does  not  hover,  as  in  Europe,  over  the 
heads  of  the  community,  since  those  only  who  have  before 
hand  submitted  to  its  authority  upon  accepting  office  are 
exposed  to  its  severity.  It  is  at  the  same  time  less  formida 
ble  and  less  efficacious ;  indeed,  it  has  not  been  considered 
by  the  legislators  of  the  United  States  as  a  remedy  for  the 
more  violent  evils  of  society,  but  as  an  ordinary  means  of 
conducting  the  government.  In  this  respect  it  probably  ex 
ercises  more  real  influence  on  the  social  body  in  America 
than  in  Europe.  We  must  not  be  misled  by  the  apparent 
mildness  of  the  American  Legislation  in  all  that  relates  to 
political  jurisdiction.  It  is  to  be  observed,  in  the  first  place, 
that  in  the  United  States  the  tribunal  which  passes  sentence 
is  composed  of  the  same  elements,  and  subject  to  the  same 
influences,  as  the  body  which  impeaches  the  offender,  and 
that  this  uniformity  gives  an  almost  irresistible  impulse  to 
the  vindictive  passions  of  parties.  If  political  judges  in  the 
United  States  cannot  inflict  such  heavy  penalties  as  those  of 
Europe,  there  is  the  less  chance  of  their  acquitting  a  pris 
oner  ;  and  the  conviction,  if  it  is  less  formidable,  is  more 
certain.  The  principal  object  of  the  political  tribunals  of 
Europe  is  to  punish  the  offender ;  the  purpose  of  those  in 
America  is  to  deprive  him  of  his  authority.  A  political  con 
demnation  in  the  United  States  may,  therefore,  be  looked 
upon  as  a  preventive  measure  ;  and  there  is  no  reason  for 
restricting  the  judges  to  the  exact  definitions  of  criminal  law. 
Nothing  can  be  more  alarming  than  the  excessive  latitude 
with  which  political  offences  are  described  in  the  laws  of 
America.  Article  II.,  section  iv.,  of  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  runs  thus  :  "  The  president,  vice-president,  and 
all  the  civil  officers  of  the  United  States  shall  be  removed 
from  office  on  impeachment  for,  and  conviction  of,  treason, 
bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors."  Many  of 
the  constitutions  of  the  states  are  even  less  explicit.  "  Pub- 

i! —       — 


106  POLITICAL   JURISDICTION 

lie  officers,"  says  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,*  "  shall 
be  impeached  for  misconduct  or  maladministration. "  The 
constitution  of  Virginia  declares  that  all  the  civil  officers  who 
shall  have  offended  against  the  state  by  maladministration 
corruption,  or  other  high  crimes,  may  be  impeached  by  tht 
house  of  delegates  :  in  some  constitutions  no  olfences  are  spe 
cified,  in  order  to  subject  the  public  functionaries  to  an  UD 
limited  responsibility. f  But  I  will  venture  to  affirm,  that  >» 
is  precisely  their  mildness  which  renders  the  American  law* 
most  formidable  in  this  respect.  We  have  shown  that  ip 
Europe  the  removal  of  a  functionary  and  his  political  inter 
diction  are  consequences  of  the  penalty  he  is  to  undergo,  and 
•that  in  America  they  constitute  the  penalty  itself.  The 
result  is,  that  in  Europe  political  tribunals  are  invested  with 
rights  which  they  are  afraid  to  use,  and  that  the  fear  of  pun 
ishing  too  much  hinders  them  from  punishing  at  all.  But  in 
America  no  one  hesitates  to  inflict  a  penalty  from  which 
humanity  does  not  recoil.  To  condemn  a  political  opponent 
to  death,  in  order  to  deprive  him  of  his  power,  is  to  commit 
what  all  the  world  would  execrate  as  a  horrible  assassination  ; 
but  to  declare  that  opponent  unworthy  to  exercise  that  au 
thor^,  to  deprive  him  of  it,  and  to  leave  him  uninjured  in 
life  sftd  liberty,  may  appear  to  be  the  fair  issue  of  the  strug 
gle.  But  this  sentence,  which  it  is  so  easy  to  pronounce,  is 
not  the  less  fatally  severe  to  the  majority  of  those  upon  whom 
it  is  inflicted.  Great  criminals  may  undoubtedly  brave  its 
intangible  rigor,  but  ordinary  offenders  will  dread  it  as  a  con 
demnation  which  destroys  their  position  in  the  world,  casts  a 
blight  upon  their  honor,  and  condemns  them  to  a  shameful 
inactivity  worse  than  death.  The  influence  exercised  in  the 
United  States  upon  the  progress  of  society  by  the  jurisdiction 
of  political  bodies  may  not  appear  to  be  formidable,  but  it  is 
only  the  more  immense.  It  does  not  act  directly  upon  the 
governed,  but  it  renders  the  majority  more  absolute  over 
those  who  govern  ;  it  does  not  confer  an  unbounded  authority 
on  the  legislator  which  can  only  be  exerted  at  some  momen 
tous  crisis,  but  it  establishes  a  temperate  and  regular  influ 
ence,  which  is  at  all  times  available.  If  the  power  is  de 
creased,  it  can,  on  the  other  hand,  be  more  conveniently  em 
ployed,  and  more  easily  abused.  By  preventing  political 
tribunals  from  inflicting  judicial  punishments,  the  Americans 
seem  to  have  eluded  the  worst  consequences  of  legislative 

*  Chapter  I.,  sect.  ii.,§  8. 

t  See  the  constitutions  of  Illinois,  Maine,  Connecticut,  and  Georgia 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  107 

tyranny,  rather  than  tyranny  itself;  and  I  am  not  sure  that 
political  jurisdiction,  as  it  is  constituted  in  the  United  States, 
is  not  the  most  formidable  which  has  ever  been  placed  in  the 
rude  grasp  of  a  popular  majority.  When  the  American  re 
publics  begin  to  degenerate,  it  will  be  easy  to  verify  the  truth 
of  this  observation,  by  remarking  whether  the  number  of 
political  impeachments  augments.* 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

1  HAVE  hitherto  considered  each  state  as  a  separate  whole, 
and  I  have  explained  the  different  springs  which  the  people 
sets  in  motion,  and  the  different  means  of  action  which  it  em 
ploys.  But  all  the  states  which  I  have  considered  as  inde 
pendent  are  forced  to  submit,  in  certain  cases,  to  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  Union.  The  time  is  now  come  for  me  to 
examine  the  partial  sovereignty  which  has  been  conceded  to 
the  Union,  and  to  cast  a  rapid  glance  over  the  federal  con 
stitution,  f 


HISTORY    OF    THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

Origin  of  the  first  Union. — Its  Weakness. — Congress  appeals  to  the 
constituent  Authority. — Interval  of  two  Years  between  the  Appeal 
and  the  Promulgation  of  the  new  Constitution. 

THE  thirteen  colonies  which  simultaneously  threw  off  the 
yoke  of  England  toward  the  end  of  the  last  century,  possessed, 
as  I  have  already  observed,  the  same  religion,  the  same  lan 
guage,  the  same  customs,  and  almost  the  same  laws ;  they 
were  struggling  against  a  common  enemy ;  and  these  reasons 
were  sufficiently  strong  to  unite  them  one  to  another,  and  to 
consolidate  them  into  one  nation.  But  as  each  of  them  had 
enjoyed  a  separate  existence,  and  a  government  within  its 
own  control,  the  peculiar  interests  and  customs  which  resulted 
from  this  system,  were  opposed  to  a  compact  and  intimate 

*  See  Appendix  N. 

f  See  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 


108  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

union,  which  would  have  absorbed  the  individual  importance 
of  each  in  the  general  importance  of  all.  Hence  arose  two 
opposite  tendencies,  the  one  prompting  the  Anglo-Americans 
to  unite,  the  other  to  divide  their  strength.  As  long  as  the 
war  with  the  mother-country  lasted,  the  principle  of  union  was 
kept  alive  by  necessity  ;  and  although  the  laws  which  con 
stituted  it  were  defective,  the  common  tie  subsisted  in  spite  of 
their  imperfections.*  But  no  sooner  was  peace  concluded 
than  the  faults  of  the  legislation  became  manifest,  and  the 
state  seemed  to  be  suddenly  dissolved.  Each  colony  became 
an  independent  republic,  and  assumed  an  absolute  sovereignty. 
The  federal  government,  condemned  to  impotence  by  its  con 
stitution,  and  no  longer  sustained  by  the  presence  of  a  com 
mon  danger,  saw  the  outrages  offered  to  its  flag  by  the  great 
nations  of  Europe,  while  it  was  scarcely  able  to  maintain  its 
ground  against  the  Indian  tribes,  and  to  pay  the  interest  of 
the  debt  which  had  been  contracted  during  the  war  of  inde 
pendence.  It  was  already  on  the  verge  of  destruction,  when 
it  officially  proclaimed  its  inability  to  conduct  the  government, 
and  appealed  to  the  constituent  authority  of  the  nation. f 

If  America  ever  approached  (for  however  brief  a  time)  that 
lofty  pinnacle  of  glory  to  which  the  proud  fancy  of  its  inhabit- 
i  ants  is  wont  to  point,  it  was  at  the  solemn  moment  at  which 
the  power  of  the  nation  abdicated,  as  it  were,  the  empire  of 
the  land.  All  ages  have  furnished  the  spectacle  of  a  people 
struggling  with  energy  to  win  its  independence ;  and  the 
efforts  of  the  Americans  in  throwing  off  the  English  yoke 
have  been  considerably  exaggerated.  Separated  from  their 
enemies  by  three  thousand  miles  of  ocean,  and  backed  by  a 
powerful  ally,  the  success  of  the  United  States  may  be  more 
justly  attributed  to  their  geographical  position,  than  to  the 
valor  of  their  armies  or  the  patriotism  of  their  citizens.  It 
would  be  ridiculous  to  compare  the  American  war  to  the  wars 
of  the  French  revolution,  or  the  efforts  of  the  Americans  to 
those  of  the  French,  who,  when  they  were  attacked  by  the 
whole  of  Europe,  without  credit  and  without  allies,  were  still 
capable  of  opposing  a  twentieth  part  of  their  population  to  their 
foes,  and  of  bearing  the  torch  of  revolution  beyond  their 
frontiers  while  they  stifled  its  devouring  flame  within  the 

*  See  the  articles  of  the  first  confederation  formed  in  1778.  This 
constitution  was  not  adopted  by  all  the  states  until  1781.  See  als;i  the 
analysis  given  of  this  constitution  in  the  Federalist,  from  No.  15  to 
No.  22  inclusive,  and  Story's  "  Commentary  on  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,"  pp.  85-115. 

f  Congress  made  this  declaration  on  the  21st  of  February,  1787- 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  109 

bosom  of  their  country.  But  it  is  a  novelty  in  the  history  of 
society  to  see  a  great  people  turn  a  calm  and  scrutinizing  eye 
upon  itself  when  apprised  by  the  legislature  that  the  wheels 
of  government  had  stopped  ;  to  see  it  carefully  examine  the 
extent  of  the  evil,  and  patiently  wait  for  two  whole  years 
until  a  remedy  was  discovered,  which  it  voluntarily  adopted 
without  having  wrung  a  tear  or  a  drop  of  blood  from  man 
kind.  At  the  time  when  the  inadequacy  of  the  first  constitu 
tion  was  discovered,  America  possessed  the  double  advantage 
of  that  calm  which  had  succeeded  the  effervescence  of  the 
revolution,  and  of  those  great  men  who  had  led  the  revolution 
to  a  successful  issue.  The  assembly  which  accepted  the  task 
of  composing  the  second  constitution  was  small  ;*  but  George 
Washington  was  its  president,  and  it  contained  the  choicest 
talents  and  the  noblest  hearts  which  had  ever  appeared  in  the 
New  World.  This  national  commission,  after  long  and  ma 
ture  deliberation,  offered  to  the  acceptance  of  the  people  the 
body  of  general  laws  which  still  rules  the  Union.  All  the 
states  adopted  it  successively.!  The  new  federal  govern 
ment  commenced  its  functions  in  1789,  after  an  interregnum 
of  two  years.  The  revolution  of  America  terminated  when 
that  of  France  began. 


SUMMARY    OF    THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

Division  of  Authority  between  the  Federal  Government  and  the  States. 
— The  Government  of  the  States  is  the  Rule :  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  the  Exception. 

THE  first  question  which  awaited  the  Americans  was  in 
tricate,  and  by  no  means  easy  of  solution  ;  the  object  was  so 
to  divide  the  authority  of  the  different  states  which  composed 
the  Union,  that  each  of  them  should  continue  to  govern  itself 
in  all  that  concerned  its  -internal  prosperity,  while  the  entire 
nation,  represented  by  the  Union,  should  continue  to  form  a 
compact  body,  and  to  provide  for  the  exigencies  of  the  peo 
ple.  It  was  as  impossible  to  determine  beforehand,  with  any 
degree  of  accuracy,  the  share  of  authority  which  each  of  the 

*  It  consisted  of  fifty-five  members:  Washington,  Madison,  Hamil 
ton,  and  the  two  Morrises,  were  among  the  number. 

t  It  was  not  adopted  by  the  legislative  bodies,  but  representatives 
were  elected  by  the  people  for  this  sole  purpose  ;  and  the  new  consti 
tution  was  discussed  at  length  in  each  of  these  assemblies. 


110  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

two  governments  was  to  enjoy,  as  to  foresee  all  the  incidents 
in  the  existence  of  a  nation. 

The  obligations  and  the  claims  of  the  federal  government 
were  simple  and  easily  definable,  because  the  Union  had  been 
formed  with  the  express  purpose  of  meeting  the  general  exi 
gencies  of  the  people  ;  but  the  claims  and  obligations  of  the 
states  were,  on  the  other  hand,  complicated  and  various,  be 
cause  those  governments  penetrated  into  all  the  details  of 
social  life.  The  attributes  of  the  federal  government  were, 
therefore,  carefully  enumerated,  and  all  that  was  not  included 
among  them  was  declared  to  constitute  a  part  of  the  privileges 
of  the  several  governments  of  the  states.  Thus  the  govern 
ment  of  the  states  remained  the  rule,  and  tha"  of  the  confede 
ration  became  the  exception.* 

But  as  it  was  foreseen,  that,  in  practice,  questions  might 
arise  as  to  the  exact  limits  of  this  exceptional  authority,  and 
that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  submit  these  questions  to  the 
decision  of  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice,  established  in  the 
states  by  the  states  themselves,  a  high  federal  court  was  cre- 
ated,"}"  which  was  destined,  among  other  functions,  to  maintain 
the  balance  of  power  which  had  been  established  by  the  con 
stitution  between  the  two  rival  governments.^ 

*  See  the  amendment  to  the  federal  constitution  ;  Federalist,  No.  32. 
Story,  p.  711.  Kent's  Commentaries,  vol.  i.,  p.  364. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  whenever  the  exclusive  right  of  regulating 
certain  matters  is  not  reserved  to  congress  by  the  constitution,  the 
states  may  take  up  the  affair,  until  it  is  brought  before  the  national 
assembly.  For  instance,  congress  has  the  right  of  making  a  general 
law  of  bankruptcy,  which,  however,  it  neglects  to  do.  Each  state  is 
then  at  liberty  to  make  a  law  for  itself.  This  point,  however,  has  been 
established  by  discussion  in  the  law-courts,  and  may  be  said  to  belong 
more  properly  to  jurisprudence. 

f  The  action  of  this  court  is  indirect,  as  we  shall  hereafter  show. 

j  It  is  thus  that  the  Federalist,  No.  45,  explains  the  division  of  su 
premacy  between  the  union  and  the  states :  "  The  powers  delegated  by 
the  constitution  to  the  federal  government  are  few  and  defined.  Those 
which  are  to  remain  in  the  state  governments  are  numerous  and  indefi 
nite.  The  former  will  be  exercised  principally  on  external  objects, 
as  war,  peace,  negotiation,  and  foreign  commerce.  The  powers  re 
served  to  the  several  states  will  extend  to  all  the  objects  which,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  affairs,  concern  the  internal  order  and  prosperity  of 
the  state." 

I  shall  often  have  occasion  to  quote  the  Federalist  in  this  work. 
When  the  bill  which  has  since  become  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  submitted  to  the  approval  of  the  people,  and  the  discussions 
were  still  pending,  three  men  who  had  already  acquired  a  portion  of 
that  celebrity  which  they  have  since  enjoyed,  John  Jay,  Hamilton, 
and  Madison,  formed  an  association  with  the  intention  of  explaining 
to  the  nation  the  advantages  of  the  measure  which  was  proposed. 
With  this  view  they  published  a  series  of  articles  in  the  shape  of  a 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION-  111 


PREROGATIVE  OF  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT. 

Power  of  declaring  War,  making  Peace,  and  levying  general  Taxes 
vested  in  tiie  Federal  Government. — What  Part  of  the  internal  Poli 
cy  of  the  Country  it  may  direct.— The  Government  of  the  Union  in 
some  respects  more  central  than  the  King's  Government  in  the  old 
French  monarchy. 

THE  external  relations  of  a  people  may  be  compared  to  those 
of  private  individuals,  and  they  cannot  be  advantageously 
maintained  without  the  agency  of  the  single  head  of  a  govern 
ment.  The  exclusive  right  of  making  peace  and  war,  of 
concluding  treaties  of  commerce,  of  raising  armies,  and 
equipping  fleets,  was  therefore  granted  to  the  Union.*  The 
necessity  of  a  national  government  was  less  imperiously  felt 
in  the  conduct  of  the  internal  affairs  of  society  ;  but  there 
are  certain  general  interests  which  can  only  be  attended  to 
with  advantage  by  a  general  authority.  The  Union  was 
invested  with  the  power  of  controlling  the  monetary  system, 
of  directing  the  post-office,  and  of  opening  the  great  roads 
which  were  to  establish  communication  between  the  different 
parts  of  the  country."]"  The  independence  of  the  government 
of  each  state  was  formally  recognized  in  its  sphere  ;  never 
theless  the  federal  government  was  authorized  to  interfere 
in  the  internal  affairs  of  the  states;}:  in  a  few  predetermined 
cases,  in  which  an  indiscreet  abuse  of  their  independence 
might  compromise  the  security  of  the  Union  at  large.  Thus, 
while  the  power  of  modifying  and  changing  their  legislation 
at  pleasure  was  preserved  in  all  the  republics,  they  were 
forbidden  to  enact  ex  post  fado  laws,  or  to  create  a  class  of 
nobles  in  their  community. §  Lastly,  as  it  was  necessary 
that  the  federal  government  should  be  able  to  fulfil  its  engage 
ments,  it  was  endowed  with  an  unlimited  power  of  levying 
taxes.  || 

journal,  which  now  form  a  complete  treatise.  They  entitled  their 
journal,  "  The  Federalist,"  a  name  which  has  been  retained  in  the 
work.  The  Federalist  is  an  excellent  book,  which  ought  to  be 
familiar  to  the  statesmen  of  all  countries,  although  it  especially  con 
cerns  America. 

*  See  constitution,  sect.  8.  Federalist,  Nos.  -11  and  43.  Kent's 
Commentaries,  vol.  i.,  p.  207.  Story,  pp.  358-38:2  ;  409-420. 

|  Several  other  privileges  of  the  same  kind  exist,  such  as  that  which 
empowers  the  Union  to  legislate  on  bankruptcy,  to  grant  patents,  and 
other  matters  in  which  its  intervention  is  clearly  necessary. 

t  Even  in  these  cases  its  interference  is  indirect.     The  Union  inter 
feres  by  means  of  the  tribunals,  as  will  be  hereafter  shown. 
Federal  Constitution,  sect.  10,  art.  1. 
Constitution,  sect.  8,  9,  and  10.     Federalist,  Nos.  30-30  inclusive, 


112  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

In  examining  the  balance  of  power  as  established  by  the 
federal  constitution  ;  in  remarking  on  the  one  hand  the  por 
tion  of  sovereignty  which  has  been  reserved  to  the  several 
states,  and  on  the  other  the  share  of  power  which  the  Union 
has  assumed,  it  is  evident  that  the  federal  legislators  enter 
tained  the  clearest  and  most  accurate  notions  on  the  nature 
of  the  centralisation  of  government.  The  United  States 
form  not  only  a  republic,  but  a  confederation  ;  nevertheless 
the  authority  of  the  nation  is  more  central  than  it  was  in 
several  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe  when  the  American 
constitution  was  formed.  Take,  for  instance,  the  two  follow 
ing  examples : — 

%  Thirteen  supreme  courts  of  justice  existed  in  France,  which, 
generally  speaking,  had  the  right  of  interpreting  the  law 
without  appeal ;  and  those  provinces,  styled  pays  d'etats,  were 
authorized  to  refuse  their  assent  to  an  impost  which  had  been 
levied  by  the  sovereign  who  represented  the  nation. 

In  the  Union  there  is  but, one  tribunal  to  interpret,  as  there 
is  one  legislature  to  make  the  laws ;  and  an  impost  voted  by 
the  representatives  of  the  nation  is  binding  upon  all  the  citizens. 

In  these  two  essential  points,  therefore,  the  Union  exercises 
more  central  authority  than  the  French  monarchy  possessed, 
although  the  Union  is  only  an  assemblage  of  confederate 
republics. 

In  Spain  certain  provinces  had  the  right  of  establishing  a 
system  of  customhouse  duties  peculiar  to  themselves,  although 
that  privilege  belongs,  by  its  very  nature,  to  the  national 
sovereignty.  In  America  the  congress  alone  has  the  right 
of  regulating  the  commercial  relations  of  the  states.  The 
government  of  the  confederation  is  therefore  more  centralized 
in  this  respect  than  the  kingdom  of  Spain.  It  is  true  that 
the  power  of  the  crown  in  France  or  in  Spain  was  always 
able  to  obtain  by  force  whatever  the  constitution  of  the 
country  denied,  and  that  the  ultimate  result  was  consequently 
the  same  ;  and  I  am  here  discussing  the  theory  of  the  con 
stitution. 


FEDERAL    POWERS. 

AFTER  having  settled  the  limits  within  which  the  federal  gov 
ernment  was  to  act,  the  next  point  was  to  determine  the  pow 
ers  which  it  was  to  exert. 

and  41-44.  Kent's  Commentaries,  vol.  i.,  pp  207  and  381.  Story, 
pp.  329  and  514. 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  113 


LEGISLATIVE    POWERS. 

Division  of  the  legislative  Body  into  two  Branches. — Difference  in  the 
Manner  of  forming  the  two  Houses. — The  Principle  of  the  Independ 
ence  of  the  States  predominates  in  the  Formation  of  the  Senate. — The 
Principle  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  Nation  in  the  Composition  of  the 
House  of  Representatives. — Singular  Effects  of  the  Fact  that  a  Con 
stitution  can  only  be  Logical  in  the  early  Stages  of  a  Nation 

THE  plan  which  had  been  laid  down  beforehand  for  the  con 
stitution  of  the  several  states  was  followed,  in  many  points,  in 
the  organization  of  the  powers  of  the  Union.  The  federal 
legislature  of  the  Union  was  composed  of  a  senate  and  a 
house  of  Representatives.  A  spirit  of  conciliation  prescribed 
the  observance  of  distinct  principles  in  the  formation  of  each 
of  these  two  assemblies.  I  have  already  shown  that  two 
contrary  interests  were  opposed  to  each  other  in  the  establish 
ment  of  the  federal  constitution.  These  two  interests  had 
given  rise  to  two  opinions.  It  was  the  wish  of  one  party  to 
convert  the  Union  into  a  league  of  independent  states,  or  a 
sort  of  congress,  at  which  the  representatives  of  'he  several 
peoples  would  meet  to  discuss  certain  points  of  their  common 
interests.  The  other  party  desired  to  unite  the  inhabitants  of 
the  American  colonies  into  one  sole  nation,  and  to  establish  a 
government,  which  should  act  as  the  sole  representative  of  the 
nation,  as  far  as  the  limited  sphere  of  its  authority  would 
permit.  The  practical  consequences  of  these  two  theories 
were  exceedingly  different. 

The  question  was,  whether  a  league  was  to  be  established 
instead  of  a  national  government ;  whether  the  majority  of 
the  states,  instead  of  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Union,  was  to  give  the  law  ;  for  every  state,  the  small  as  well 
as  the  great,  then  retained  the  character  of  an  independent 
power,  and  entered  the  Union  upon  a  footing  of  perfect  equal 
ity.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States 
were  to  be  considered  as  belonging  to  one  and  the  same 
nation,  it  was  natural  that  the  majority  of  the  citizens  of  the 
Union  should  prescribe  the  law.  Of  course  the  lesser  states 
could  not  subscribe  to  the  application  of  this  doctrine  without, 
in  fact,  abdicating  their  existence  in  relation  to  the  sove 
reignty  of  the  confederation  ;  since  they  would  have  passed 
from  the  condition  of  a  co-equal  and  co-legislative  authority, 
to  that  of  an  insignificant  fraction  of  a  great  people.  The 
former  system  would  have  invested  them  with  an  excessive  au. 
thority,  the  latter  would  have  annulled  their  influence  alto- 
8 


114  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

gether.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  result  was,  that  the 
strict  rules  of  logic  were  evaded,  as  is  usually  the  case  when 
interests  are  opposed  to  arguments.  A  middle  course  was  hit 
upon  by  the  legislators,  which  brought  together  by  force  two 
systems  theoretically  irreconcilable. 

The  principle  of  the  independence  of  the  states  prevailed 
in  the  formation  of  the  senate,  and  that  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  nation  predominated  in  the  composition  of  the  house  of  re 
presentatives.  It  was  decided  that  each  state  should  send  two 
senators  to  congress,  and  a  number  of  representatives  proper- 
tioned  to  its  population.*  It  results  from  this  arrangement 
that  the  state  of!  New  York  has  at  the  present  day  forty  repre- 
s^ntatives,  and  only  two  senators  ;  the  state  of  Delaware  has 
two  senators,  and  only  one  representative  ;  the  state  of  Dela 
ware  is  therefore  equal  to  the  state  of  New  York  in  the  se 
nate,  while  the  latter  has  forty  times  the  influence  of  the 
former  in  the  house  of  representatives.  Thus,  if  the  minority 
of  the  nation  preponderates  in  the  senate,  it  may  paralyze  the 
decisions  of  the  majority  represented  in  the  other  house,  which 
is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  constitutional  government. 

The  facts  show  how  rare  and  how  difficult  it  is  rationally 
and  logically  to  combine  all  the  several  parts  of  legislation. 
In  the  course  of  time  different  interests  arise,  and  different 
principles  are  sanctioned  by  the  same  people  ;  and  when  a 
general  constitution  is  to  be  established,  these  interests  and 
principles  are  so  many  natural  obstacles  to  the  rigorous  appli 
cation  of  any  political  system,  with  all  its  consequences.  The 
early  stages  of  national  existence  are  the  only  periods  at  which 
it  is  possible  to  maintain  the  complete  logic  of  legislation  ;  and 
when  we  perceive  a  nation  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  advantage, 
before  we  hasten  to  conclude  that  it  is  wise,  we  should  do  well 
to  remember  that  it  is  young.  When  the  federal  constitution 
was  formed,  the  interest  of  independence  for  the  separate 
states,  and  the  interest  of  union  for  the  whole  people,  were 

*  Every  ten  years  congress  fixes  anew  the  number  of  representatives 
which  each  state  is  to  furnish.  The  total  nnmber  was  09  in  1789,  and 
.240  in  1833.  (See  American  Almanac,  1834,  p.  191.) 

The  constitution  decided  that  there  should  not  be  more  than  one  re 
presentative  for  every  30,000  persons ;  but  no  minimum  was  fixed 
upon.  The  congress  has  not  thought  fit  to  augment  the  number  of  re 
presentatives  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  population.  The  first  act 
which  was  passed  on  the  subject  (14th  April,  1792  :  see  Laws  of  the 
United  States,  by  Story,  vol.  i.,  p.  235)  decided  that  there  should  be 
one  representative  for  every  33,000  inhabitants.  The  last  act,  which 
was  passed  in  1822,  fixes  the  proportion  at  one  for  4S,000.  The  popu 
lation  represented  is  composed  of  all  the  freemen  and  of  three-fifths  of 
the  slaves. 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  115 

the  only  two  conflicting  interests  which  existed  among  the 
Anglo-Americans  ;  and  a  compromise  was  necessarily  made 
between  them. 

It  is,  however,  just  to  acknowledge  that  this  part  of  the  con- 
stitution  has  not  hitherto  produced  those  evils  which  might 
have  been  feared.  All  the  states  are  young  and  contiguous ; 
their  customs,  their  ideas,  and  their  wants,  are  not  dissimilar  ; 
and  the  differences  which  result  from  their  size  or  inferiority 
do  not  suffice  to  set  their  interests  at  variance.  The  small 
states  have  consequently  never  been  induced  to  league  them 
selves  together  in  the  senate  to  oppose  the  designs  of  the 
larger  ones ;  and  indeed  there  is  so  irresistible  an  authority 
in  the  legitimate  expression  of  the  will  of  a  people,  that  the 
senate  could  offer  but  a  feeble  opposition  to  the  vote  of  the 
majority  of  the  house  of  representatives. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  on  the  other  hand,  that  it  was  not 
in  the  power  of  the  American  legislators  to  reduce  to  a  single 
nation  the  people  for  whom  they  were  making  laws.  The 
object  of  the  federal  constitution  was  not  to  destroy  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  states,  but  to  restrain  it.  By  acknowledging 
the  real  authority  of  these  secondary  communities  (and  it  was 
impossible  to  deprive  them  of  it),  they  disavowed  beforehand 
the  habitual  use  of  constraint  in  enforcing  the  decisions  of 
the  majority.  Upon  this  principle  the  introduction  of  the  in 
fluence  of  the  states  into  the  mechanism  of  the  federal  govern 
ment  was  by  no  means  to  be  wondered  at ;  since  it  only 
attested  the  existence  of  an  acknowledged  power,  which  was 
to  be  humored,  and  not  forcibly  checked. 


A    FARTHER    DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN    THE    SENATE    AND    THE 
HOUSE    OF    REPRESENTATIVES. 

The  Senate  named  by  the  provincial  Legislature — the  Representatives, 
by  the  People. — Double  Election  of  the  Former — Single  Election  of 
the  Latter. — Term  of  the  different  Offices.— Peculiar  Functions  of 
each  House. 

THE  senate  not  only  differs  from  the  other  house  in  the  prin 
ciple  which  it  represents,  but  also  in  the  mode  of  its  election, 
in  the  term  for  which  it  is  chosen,  and  in  the  nature  of  its 
functions.  The  house  of  representatives  is  named  by  the 
people,  the  senate  by  the  legislators  of  each  state  ;  the  former 
is  directly  elected  ;  the  latter  is  elected  by  an  elected  body  ; 
the  term  for  which  the  representatives  are  chosen  is  only  two 
years,  that  of  the  senators  is  six.  The  functions  of  the  house 


110  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

of  representatives  are  purely  legislative,  and  the  only  share  it 
takes  in  the  judicial  power  is  in  the  impeachment  of  public 
officers.  The  senate  co-operates  in  the  work  of  legislation, 
and  tries  those  political  offences  which  the  house  of  represen 
tatives  submits  to  its  decision.  It  also  acts  as  the  great 
executive  council  of  the  nation  ;  the  treaties  which  are  con 
cluded  by  the  president  must  be  ratified  by  the  senate  ;  and 
the  appointments  he  may  make  must  be  definitively  approved 
by  the  same  body.* 


THE   EXECUTIVE    POWER,  f 

Dependence  of  the  President. — He  is  Elective  and  Responsible. — He  is 
Free  to  act  in  his  own  Sphere  under  the  Inspection,  but  not  under 
the  Direction,  of  the  Senate. — His  Salary  fixed  at  his  Entry  into 
Office. — Suspensive  Veto. 

THE  American  legislators  undertook  a  difficult  task  in 
attempting  to  create  an  executive  power  dependent  on  the 
majority  of  the  people  and  nevertheless  sufficiently  strong  to 
act  without  restraint  in  its  own  sphere.  It  was  indispensa 
ble  to  the  maintenance  of  the  republican  form  of  government 
that  the  representatives  of  the  executive  power  should  be  sub 
ject  to  the  will  of  the  nation. 

The  president  is  an  elective  magistrate.  His  honor,  his 
property,  his  liberty,  and  his  life,  are  the  securities  which  the 
people  has  for  the  temperate  use  of  his  power.  But  in  the 
exercise  of  his  authority  he  cannot  be  said  to  be  perfectly 
independent ;  the  senate  takes  cognizance  of  his  relations  with 
foreign  powers,  and  of  the  distribution  of  public  appointments, 
so  that  he  can  neither  be  bribed,  nor  can  he  employ  the 
means  of  corruption.  The  legislators  of  the  Union  acknow 
ledged  that  the  executive  power  would  be  incompetent  to  fulfil 
its  task  with  dignity  and  utility,  unless  it  enjoyed  a  greater 
degree  of  stability  and  of  strength  than  had  been  granted  to  it 
in  the  separate  states. 

The  president  is  chosen  for  four  years,  and  he  may  be  re- 
elected  ;  so  that  the  chances  of  a  prolonged  administration 
may  inspire  him  with  hopeful  undertakings  for  the  public 
good,  and  with  the  means  of  carrying  them  into  execution. 
The  president  was  made  the  sole  representative  of  the  execu 
tive  power  of  the  Union  ;  and  care  was  taken  not  to  ivnder 

*  See  the  Federalist,  Nos.  52-66,  inclusive.  Story,  pp.  199-314 
Constitutor!  of  the  United  States,  sections  2  and  3. 

f  See  the  Federalist,  Nos.  67-77.  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
a  t.  2.  ^t  iy,  pp.  115;  515-780.  Kent's  Commentaries,  p.  255 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  117 

his  decisions  subordinate  to  the  vote  of  a  council — a  danger 
ous  measure,  which  tends  at  the  same  time  to  clog  the  action 
of  the  government  and  to  diminish  its  responsibility.  The 
senate  has  the  right  of  annulling  certain  acts  of  the  president ; 
but  it  cannot  compel  him  to  take  any  steps,  nor  does  it  parti 
cipate  in  the  exercise  of  the  executive  power. 

The  action  of  the  legislature  on  the  executive  power  may 
be  direct ;  and  we  have  just  shown  that  the  Americans  care 
fully  obviated  this  influence  ;  but  it  may,  on  the  other  hand, 
be  indirect.  Public  assemblies  which  have  the  power  of  de 
priving  an  officer  of  state  of  his  salary,  encroach  upon  his 
independence  ;  and  as  they  are  free  to  make  the  laws,  it  is 
to  be  feared  lest  they  should  gradually  appropriate  to  them 
selves  a  portion  of  that  authority  which  the  constitution  had 
vested  in  his  hands.  This  dependence  of  the  executive  power 
is  one  of  the  defects  inherent  in  republican  constitutions. 
The  Americans  have  not  been  able  to  counteract  the  ten 
dency  which  legislative  assemblies  have  to  get  possession 
of  the  government,  but  they  have  rendered  this  propensity 
less  irresistible.  The  salary  of  the  president  is  fixed,  at  the 
time  of  his  entering  upon  office,  for  the  whole  period  of  his 
magistracy.  The  president  is,  moreover,  provided  with  a 
suspensive  veto,  which  allows  him  to  oppose  the  passing  of 
such  laws  as  might  destroy  the  portion  of  independence  which 
the  constitution  awards  him.  The  struggle  between  the  pre 
sident  and  the  legislature  must  always  be  an  unequal  one, 
since  the  latter  is  certain  of  bearing  down  all  resistance  by 
persevering  in  its  plans  ;  but  the  suspensive  veto  forces  it  at 
least  to  reconsider  the  matter,  and,  if  the  motion  be  persisted 
in,  it  must  then  be  backed  by  a  majority  of  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  house.  The  veto  is,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  appeal  to  the 
people.  The  executive  power,  which,  without  this  security, 
might  have  been  secretly  oppressed,  adopts  this  means  of 
pleading  its  cause  and  stating  its  motives.  But  if  the  legis 
lature  is  certain  of  overpowering  all  resistance  by  persevering 
in  its  plans,  I  reply,  that  in  the  constitutions  of  all  nations, 
of  whatever  kind  they  may  be,  a  certain  point  exists  at 
which  the  legislator  is  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  good 
sense  and  the  virtue  of  his  fellow-citizens.  This  point  is  more 
prominent  and  more  discoverable  in  republics,  while  it  is 
more  remote  and  more  carefully  concealed  in  monarchies, 
but  it  always  exists  somewhere.  There  is  no  country  in  the 
world  in  which  everything  can  be  provided  for  by  the  laws, 
or  in  which  political  institutions  can  prove  a  substitute  for 
common  sense  and  public  morality. 


116  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 


DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THE  POSITION  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  THAT  OF  A  CONSTITUTIONAL  KING 
OF  FRANCE. 

Executive  Power  in  the  United  States  as  Limited  and  as  Partial  as  the 
Supremacy  which  it  Represents. — Executive  Power  in  France  as 
Universal  as  the  Supremacy  it  Represents.— The  King  a  Branch  of 
the  Legislature. — The  President  the  mere  Executor  of  the  Law. — 
Other  Differences  resulting  from  the  Duration  of  the  two  Powers. — 
The  President  checked  in  the  Exercise  of  the  executive  Authority. — 
The  King  Independent  in  its  Exercise. — Notwithstanding  these 
Discrepancies,  France  is  more  akin  to  a  Republic  than  the  Union  to 
a  Monarchy.— Comparison  of  the  Number  of  public  Officers  depend 
ing  upon  the  executive  Power  in  the  two  countries. 

THE  executive  power  has  so  important  an  influence  on  the 
destinies  of  nations  that  I  am  inclined  to  pause  for  an  instant 
at  this  portion  of  my  subject,  in  order  more  clearly  to  explain 
the  part  it  sustains  in  America.  In  order  to  form  an  accu 
rate  idea  of  the  position  of  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
it  may  not  be  irrelevant  to  compare  it  to  that  of  one  of  the 
constitutional  kings  of  Europe.  In  this  comparison  I  shall 
pay  but  little  attention  to  the  external  signs  of  power,  which 
are  more  apt  to  deceive  the  eye  of  the  observer  than  to  guide 
his  researches.  When  a  monarchy  is  being  gradually  trans 
formed  into  a  republic,  the  executive  power  retains  the  titles, 
the  honors,  the  etiquette,  and  even  the  funds  of  royalty,  long 
after  its  authority  has  disappeared.  The  English,  after  hav 
ing  cut  off  the  head  of  one  king,  and  expelled  another  from 
his  throne,  were  accustomed  to  accost  the  successors  of  those 
princes  upon  their  knees.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a  repub 
lic  falls  under  the  sway  of  a  single  individual,  the  demeanor 
of  the  sovereign  is  simple  and  unpretending,  as  if  his  authority 
was  not  yet  paramount.  When  the  emperors  exercised  an 
unlimited  control  over  the  fortunes  and  the  lives  of  their  fellow- 
citizens,  it  was  customary  to  call  them  Cesar  in  conversation, 
and  they  were  in  the  habit  of  supping  without  formality  at 
their  friends'  houses.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  look  below 
the  surface. 

The  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  is  shared  between 
the  Union  and  the  states,  while  in  France  it  is  undivided  and 
compact :  hence  arises  the  first  and  the  most  notable  differ 
ence  which  exists  between  the  president  of  the  United  States 
and  the  king  of  France.  In  the  United  States  the  executive 
power  is  as  limited  and  partial  as  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union 
in  whose  name  it  acts ;  in  France  it  is  as  universal  as  the 


THE    FEDERAL   CONSTITUTION.  119 

authority  of  the  state.  The  Americans  have  a  federal,  and 
the  French  a  national  government. 

The  first  cause  of  inferiority  results  from  the  nature  of 
things,  but  it  is  not  the  only  one ;  the  second  in  importance 
is  as  follows :  sovereignty  may  be  defined  to  be  the  right  of 
making  laws :  in  France,  the  king  really  exercises  a  portion 
of  the  sovereign  power,  since  the  laws  have  no  weight  till  he 
has  given  his  assent  to  them ;  he  is  moreover  the  executor 
of  all  they  ordain.  The  president  is  also  the  executor  of  the 
laws,  but  he  does  not  really  co-operate  in  their  formation, 
since  the  refusal  of  his  assent  does  not  annul  them.  He  is 
therefore  merely  to  be  considered  as  the  agent  of  the  sovereign 
power.  But  not  only  does  the  king  of  France  exercise  a  por 
tion  of  the  sovereign  power,  he  also  contributes  to  the  nomi 
nation  of  the  legislature,  which  exercises  the  other  portion. 
He  has  the  privilege  of  appointing  the  members  of  one 
chamber,  and  of  dissolving  the  other  at  his  pleasure  ;  where 
as  the  president  of  the  United  States  has  no  share  in  the 
formation  of  the  legislative  body,  and  cannot  dissolve  any 
part  of  it.  The  king  has  the  same  right  of  bringing  forward 
measures  as  the  chambers ;  a  righx  which  the  president  does 
not  possess.  The  king  is  represented  in  each  assembly  by 
his  ministers,  who  explain  his  intentions,  support  his  opinions, 
and  maintain  the  principles  of  the  government.  The  presi 
dent  and  his  ministers  are  alike  excluded  from  congress ;  so 
that  his  influence  .and  his  opinions  can  only  penetrate  indi 
rectly  into  that  great  body.  The  king  of  France  is  therefore 
on  an  equal  footing  with  the  legislature,  which  can  no  more  act 
without  him,  than  he  can  without  it.  The  president  exer 
cises  an  authority  inferior  to,  and  depending  upon,  that  of  the 
legislature. 

Even  in  the  exercise  of  the  executive  power,  properly  so 
called,  the  point  upon  which  his  position  seems  to  be  almost 
analogous  to  that  of  the  king  of  France — the  president  labors 
under  several  causes  of  inferiority.  The  authority  of  the 
king,  in  France,  has,  in  the  first  place,  the  advantage  of  dura 
tion  over  that  of  the  president :  and  durability  is  one  of  the 
chief  elements  of  strength ;  nothing  is  either  loved  or, feared 
but  what  is  likely  to  endure.  The  president  of  the  United 
States  is  a  magistrate  elected  for  four  years.  The  king,  in 
France,  is  an  hereditary  sovereign. 

In  the  exercise  of  the  executive  power  the  president  of  the 
Uuiied  States  is  constantly  subject  to  jealous  scrutiny.  He 
*iibke,  but  he  cannot  conclude  a  treaty ;  he  may  desig- 


120  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

nate,  but  he  cannot  appoint,  a  public  officer.*  The  king  of 
France  is  absolute  in  the  sphere  of  the  executive  power. 

The  president  of  the  United  States  is  responsible  for  his 
actions ;  but  the  person  of  the  king  is  declared  inviolable  by 
the  French  charter. 

Nevertheless,  the  supremacy  of  public  opinion  is  no  less 
above  the  head  of  one  than  of  the  other.  This  power  is  less 
definite,  less  evident,  and  less  sanctioned  by  the  laws  in 
France  than  in  America,  but  in  fact  exists.  In  America  it 
acts  by  elections  and  decrees  ;  in  France  it  proceeds  by  revo 
lutions  ;  but  notwithstanding  the  different  constitutions  of 
these  two  countries,  public  opinion  is  the  predominant  autho 
rity*  in  both  of  them.  The  fundamental  principle  of  legisla 
tion — a  principle  essentially  republican — is  the  same  in  both 
countries,  although  its  consequences  may  be  different,  and 
its  results  more  or  less  extensive.  Whence  I  am  led  to  con 
clude,  that  France  with  its  king  is  nearer  akin  to  a  republic, 
than  the  Union  with  its  president  is  to  a  monarchy. 

In  what  I  have  been  saying  I  have  only  touched  upon  the 
main  points  of  distinction  ;  and  if  I  could  have  entered  into 
details,  the  contrast  would  have  been  rendered  still  more 
striking. 

I  have  remarked  that  the  authority  of  the  president  in  the 
United  States  is  only  exercised  within  the  limits  of  a  partial 
sovereignty,  while  that  of  the  king,  in  France,  is  undivided. 
I  might  have  gone  on  to  show  that  the  power  of  the  king's 
government  in  France  exceeds  its  natural .  limits,  however 
extensive  they  may  be,  and  penetrates  in  a  thousand  different 
ways  into  the  administration  of  private  interests.  Among  the 
examples  of  this  influence  may  be  quoted  that  which  results 
from  the  great  number  of  public  functionaries,  who  all  derive 
their  appointments  from  the  government.  This  number  now 
exceeds  all  previous  limits;  it  amounts  to  138,000f  nomina 
tions,  each  of  which  may  be  considered  as  an  element  of  power. 
The  president  of  the  United  States  has  not  the  exclusive  right 

*  The  constitution  had  left  it  doubtful  whether  the  president  was 
obliged  to  consult  the  senate  in  the  removal  as  well  as  in  the  appoint 
ment  of  federal  officers.  The  Federalist  (No.  77)  seemed  to  establish 
the  affirmative;  but  in  1789,  congress  formally  decided  that  as  the 
president  was  responsible  for  his  actions,  he  ought  not  to  be  forced  to 
employ  agents  who  had  forfeited  his  esteem.  See  Keni's  Commenta 
ries,  vol.  i.,  p.  289. 

f  The  sums  annually  paid  by  the  state  to  these  officers  amount  to 
200,000,000  francs  (eight  millions  sterling). 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 


121 


of  making  any  public  appointments,  and  their  whole  number 
scarcely  exceeds  12,000.* 

[Those  who  are  desirous  of  tracing  the  question  respecting  the  power 
of  the  president  to  remove  every  executive  officer  of  the  government 
without  the  sanction  of  the  senate,  will  find  some  light  upon  it  by  re 
ferring  to  5th  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  p.  196  :  5  Sergeant  and 
Rawle's  Reports  (Pennsylvania),  451  :  Elliot's  Debates  on  the  Federal 
Constitution,  vol  iv.,  p.  355,  contains  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives,  June  16,  1799,  when  the  question  was  first  mooted 
Report  of  a  committee  of  the  senate  in  1822,  in  Niles's  Register  of  29th 
August  in  that  year.  It  is  certainly  very  extraordinary  that  such  a  vast 
power,  and  one  so  extensively  affecting  the  whole  administration  of 
the  government,  should  rest  on  such  slight  foundations,  as  an  inference 
from  an  act  of  congress,  providing  that  when  the  secretary  of  the  trea 
sury  should  be  removed  by  the  president,  his  assistant  should  discharge 
the  duties  of  the  office.  How  congress  could  confer  the  power,  even 
by  a  direct  act,  is  not  perceived.  It  must  be  a  necessary  implication 
from  the  words  of  the  constitution,  or  it  does  ftot  exist.  It  has  been 
repeatedly  denied  in  and  out  of  congress,  and  must  be  considered,  as 
yet,  an  unsettled  question. — American  Editor.] 


ACCIDENTAL    CAUSES  WHICH    MAY    INCREASE  THE  INFLUENCE    OF 
THE    EXECUTIVE. 

External  security  of  the  Union. — Army  of  six  thousand  Men. — Few 
Ships. — The  President  has  no  Opportunity  of  exercising  his  great 
Prerogatives. — In  the  Prerogatives  he  exercises  he  is  weak. 

IF  the  executive  power  is  feebler  in  America  than  in 
France,  the  cause  is  more  attributable  to  the  circumstances 
than  to  the  laws  of  the  country. 

It  is  chiefly  in  its  foreign  relations  that  the  executive  power 
of  a  nation  is  called  upon  to  exert  its  skill  and  vigor.  If  the 
existence  of  the  Union  were  perpetually  threatened,  and  its 
chief  interest  were  in  daily  connexion  with  those  of  other  pow 
erful  nations,  the  executive  government  would  assume  an  in 
creased  importance  in  proportion  to  the  measures  expected  of 
it,  and  those  which  it  would  carry  into  effect.  The  president 
of  the  United  States  is  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army, 
but  of  an  army  composed  of  only  six  thousand  men ;  he  coin- 

*  This  number  is  extracted  from  the  "  National  Calendar,"  for  1833, 
The  National  Calendar  is  an  American  almanac  which  contains  the 
names  of  all  the  federal  officers. 

It  results  from  this  comparison  that  the  king  of  France  has  eleven 
times  as  many  places  at  his  disposal  as  the  president,  although  the 
population  of  France  is  not  much  more  than  double  that  of  the  Union 


122  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

mands  the  fleet,  but  the  fleet  reckons  but  few  sail ;  he  cmi 
ducts  the  foreign  relations  of  the  Union,  but  the  United  States 
are  a  nation  without  neighbors.  Separated  from  the  rest  of 
the  world  by  the  ocean,  and  too  weak  as  yet  to  aim  at  the 
dominion  of  the  seas,  they  have  no  enemies,  and  their  inter- 
ests  rarely  come  into  contact  with  those  of  any  other  nation 
of  the  globe. 

The  practical  part  of  a  government  must  not  be  judged  by 
the  theory  of  its  constitution.  The  president  of  the  United 
States  is  in  the  possession  of  almost  royal  prerogatives,  which 
he  has  no  opportunity  of  exercising  ;  and  those  privileges 
which  he  can  at  present  use  are  very  circumscribed  :  the  laws 
allow  him  to  possess  a  degree  of  influence  which  circum 
stances  do  not  permit  him  to  employ. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  great  strength  of  the  royal  preroga 
tive  in  France  arises  from  circumstances  far  more  than 
from  the  laws.  There  the  executive  government  is  con 
stantly  struggling  against  prodigious  obstacles,  and  exerting 
all  its  energies  to  repress  them ;  so  that  it  increases  by  the 
extent  of  its  achievements,  and  by  the  importance  of  the 
events  it'  controls,  without,  for  that  reason,  modifying  its  con 
stitution.  If  the  laws  had  made  it  as  feeble  and  as  circum 
scribed  as  it  is  in  the  Union,  its  influence  would  very  soon 
become  much  greater. 


WHY  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  DOES  NOT  RE 
QUIRE  THE  MAJORITY  OF  THE  TWO  HOUSES  IN  ORDER  TO 
CARRY  ON  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

IT  is  an  established  axiom  in  Europe  that  a  constitutional 
king  cannot  persevere  in  a  system  of  government  which  is 
opposed  by  the  two  other  branches  of  the  legislature.  But 
several  presidents  of  the  United  States  have  been  known  to 
lose  the  majority  in  the  legislative  body,  without  being 
obliged  to  abandon  the  supreme  power,  and  without  inflicting 
a  serious  evil  upon  society.  I  have  heard  this  fact  quoted 
as  an  instance  of  the  independence  and  power  of  executive 
government  in  America  :  a  moment's  reflection  will  convince 
us,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  is  a  proof  of  its  extreme  weakness. 
A  king  in  Europe  requires  the  support  of  the  legislature 
to  enable  him  to  perform  the  duties  imposed  upon  him  by  the 
constitution,  because  those  duties  are  enormous.  A  constitu 
tional  king  in  Europe  is  not  merely  the  executor  of  the  lav/, 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  123 

out  the  execution  of  its  provisions  devolves  so  completely 
upon  him,  that  he  has  the  power  of  paralyzing  its  influence 
if  it  opposes  his  designs.  He  requires  the  assistance  of  the 
legislative  assemblies  to  make  the  law,  but  those  assemblies 
stand  in  need  of  his  aid  to  execute  it :  these  two  authorities 
cannot  subsist  without  each  other,  and  the  mechanism  of 
government  is  stopped  as  soon  as  they  are  at  variance. 

In  America  the  president  cannot  prevent  any  law  from 
being  passed,  nor  can  he  evade  the  obligation  of  enforcing  it. 
His  sincere  and  zealous  co-operation  is  no  doubt  useful,  but 
it  is  not  indispensable  in  the  carrying  on  of  public  affairs. 
All  his  important  acts  are  directly  or  indirectly  submitted  to 
the  legislature  ;  and  where  he  is  independent  of  it  he  can  do 
but  little.  It  is  therefore  his  weakness,  and  not  his  power, 
which  enables  him  to  remain  in  opposition  to  congress.  In 
Europe,  harmony  must  reign  between  the  crown  and  the 
other  branches  of  the  legislature,  because  a  collision  between 
them  may  prove  serious  ;  in  America,  this  harmony  is  not 
indispensable,  because  such  a  collision  is  impossible. 


ELECTION    OF    THE     PRESIDENT. 

Dangers  of  the  elective  System  increase  in  Proportion  to  the  Extent 
of  the  Prerogative. — This  System  possible  in  America  because  no 
powerful  executive  Authority  is  required. — What  Circumstances 
are  favorable  to  the  elective  System. — Why  the  Election  of  the 
President  does  not  cause  a  Deviation  from  the  Principles  of  the  Gov- 
frnment.— Influence  of  the  Election  of  the  President  on  secondary 
Functionaries. 

THE  dangers  of  the  system  of  election  applied  to  the  head 
of  the  executive  government  of  a  great  people,  have  been  suf 
ficiently  exemplified  by  experience  and  by  history  ;  and  the 
remarks  I  am  about  to  make  refer  to  America  alone.  These 
dangers  may  be  more  or  less  formidable  in  proportion  to  the 
place  which  the  executive  power  occupies,  and  to  the  impor 
tance  it  possesses  in  the  state  ;  and  they  may  vary  accord 
ing  to  the  mode  of  election,  and  the  circumstances  in  which 
the  electors  are  placed.  The  most  weighty  argument  against 
the  election  of  a  chief-magistrate  is,  that  it  offers  so  splendid 
a  lure  to  private  ambition,  and  is  so  apt  to  inflame  men  in  the 
pursuit  of  power,  that  when  legitimate  means  are  wanting, 
force  may  not  unfrequently  seize  what  right  denies. 

It  is  clear  that  the  greater  the  privileges  of  the  executive 


124  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION. 

authority  are,  the  greater  is  the  temptation ;  the  more  the 
ambition  of  the  candidates  is  excited,  the  more  warmly  are 
their  interests  espoused  by  a  throng  of  partisans  who  hope  to 
share  the  power  when  their  patron  has  won  the  prize.  The 
dangers  of  the  elective  system  increase,  therefore,  in  the  ex 
act  ratio  of  the  influence  exercised  by  the  executive  power  in 
the  affairs  of  state.  The  revolutions  of  Poland  are  not  solely 
attributable  to  the  elective  system  in  general,  but  to  the  fact 
that  the  elected  magistrate  was  the  head  of  a  powerful  mon 
archy.  Before  we  can  discuss  the  absolute  advantages  of 
the  elective  system,  we  must  make  preliminary  inquiries  as 
to  whether  the  geographical  position,  the  laws,  the  habits,  the 
mariners,  and  the  opinions  of  the  people  among  whom  it  is  to 
be  introduced,  will  admit  of  the  establishment  of  a  weak  and 
dependent  executive  government ;  for  to  attempt  to  render 
the  representative  of  the  state  a  powerful  sovereign,  and  at 
the  same  time  elective,  is,  in  my  opinion,  to  entertain  two  in 
compatible  designs.  To  reduce  hereditary  royalty  to  the 
condition  of  an  elective  authority,  the  only  means  that  I  am 
acquainted  with  are  to  circumscribe  its  sphere  of  action  be 
forehand,  gradually  to  diminish  its  prerogatives,  and  to  accus 
tom  the  people  to  live  without  its  protection.  Nothing,  how 
ever,  is  farther  from  the  designs  of  the  republicans  of  Europe 
than  this  course  :  as  many  of  them  only  owe  their  hatred  of 
tyranny  to  the  sufferings  which  they  have  personally  under 
gone,  the  extent  of  the  executive  power  does  not  excite  their 
hostility,  and  they  only  attack  its  origin  without  perceiving 
how  nearly  the  two  things  are  connected. 

Hitherto  no  citizen  has  shown  any  disposition  to  expose 
his  honor  and  his  life,  in  order  to  become  the  president  of  the 
United  States  ;  because  the  power  of  that  office  is  temporary, 
limited,  and  subordinate.  The  prize  of  fortune  must  be 
great  to  encourage  adventurers  in  so  desperate  a  game.  No 
candidate  has  as  yet  been  able  to  arouse  the  dangerous  en 
thusiasm  or  the  passionate  sympathies  of  the  people  in  his 
favor,  for  the  very  simple  reason,  that  when  he  is  at  the  head 
of  the  government  he  has  but  little  power,  but  little  wealth, 
and  but  little  glory  to  share  among  his  friends ;  and  his  in 
fluence  in  the  state  is  too  small  for  the  success  or  the  ruin 
of  a  faction  to  depend  upon  the  elevation  of  an  individual  to 
power. 

The  great  advantage  of  hereditary  monarchies  is,  that  as 
the  private  interest  of  a  family  is  always  intimately  connected 
with  the  interests  of  the  state,  the  executive  government  is 
never  suspended  for  a  single  instant ;  and  if  the  affairs  of  a 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  125 

monarchy  are  not  better  conducted  than  those  of  a  republic, 
at  least  there  is  always  some  one  to  conduct  them,  well  or  ill, 
according  to  his  capacity.  In  elective  states,  on  the  con- 
trary,  the  wheels  of  government  cease  to  act,  as  it  were  of 
their  own  accord,  at  the  approach  of  an  election,  and  even 
for  some  time  previous  to  that  event.  The  laws  may  indeed 
accelerate  the  operation  of  the  election,  which  may  be  con 
ducted  with  such  simplicity  and  rapidity  that,  the  seat  of 
power  will  never  be  left  vacant ;  but,  notwithstanding  these 
precautions,  a  break  necessarily  occurs  in  the  minds  of  the 
people. 

At  the  approach  of  an  election  the  head  of  the  executive 
government  is  wholly  occupied  by  the  coming  struggle  ;  his 
future  plans  are  doubtful  ;  he  can  undertake  nothing  new, 
and  he  will  only  prosecute  with  indifference  those  designs 
which  another  will  perhaps  terminate.  "  I  am  so  near  the 
time  of  my  retirement  from  office,"  said  President  Jefferson 
on  the  21st  of  January,  1809  (six  weeks  before  the  election), 
"  that  I  feel  no  passion,  I  take  no  part,  I  express  no  senti 
ment.  It  appears  to  me  just  to  leave  to  my  successor  the 
commencement  of  those  measures  which  he  will  have  to 
prosecute,  and  for  which  he  will  be  responsible." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  eyes  of  the  nation  are  centred  on  a 
single  point ;  all  are  watching  the  gradual  birth  of  so  impor 
tant  an  event.  The  wider  the  influence  of  the  executive 
power  extends,  the  greater  and  the  more  necessary  is  its  con 
stant  action,  the  more  fatal  is  the  term  of  suspense  ;  and  a 
nation  which  is  accustomed  to  the  government,  or,  still  more, 
one  used  to  the  administrative  protection  of  a  powerful  ex 
ecutive  authority,  would  be  infallibly  convulsed  by  an  elec 
tion  of  this  kind.  In  the  United  States  the  action  of  the 
government  may  be  slackened  with  impunity,  because  it  is 
always  weak  and  circumscribed. 

One  of  the  principal  vices  of  the  elective  system  is,  that  it 
always  introduces  a  certain  degree  of  instability  into  the  in 
ternal  and  external  policy  of  the  state.  But  this  disadvan 
tage  is  less  sensibly  felt  if  the  share  of  power  vested  in  the 
elected  magistrate  is  small.  In  Rome  the  principles  of  the 
government  underwent  no  variation,  although  the  consuls 
were  changed  every  year,  because  the  senate,  which  was  an 
hereditary  assembly,  possessed  the  directing  authority.  If 
the  elective  system  were  adopted  in  Europe,  the  condition  of 
most  of  the  monarchical  states  would  be  changed  at  every 
new  election.  In  America  the  president  exercises  a  certain 
influence  on  state  affairs,  but  he  does  not  conduct  them ;  the 


126  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

preponderating  power  is  vested  in  the  representatives  of  the 
whole  nation.  The  political  maxims  of  the  country  depend 
therefore  on  the,  mass  of  the  people,  not  on  the  president 
alone  ;  and  consequently  in  America  the  elective  system  has 
no  very  prejudicial  influence  on  the  fixed  principles  of  the 
government.  But  the  want  of  fixed  principles  is  an  evil  so 
inherent  in  the  elective  system,  that  it  is  still  extremely  per 
ceptible  in  the  narrow  sphere  to  which  the  authority  of  the 
president  extends. 

The  Americans  have  admitted  that  the  head  of  the  execu 
tive  power,  who  has  to  bear  the  whole  responsibility  of  the 
duties  he  is  called  upon  to  fulfil,  ought  to  be  empowered  to 
choose  his  own  agents,  and  to  remove  them  at  pleasure  :  the 
legislative  bodies  watch  the  conduct  of  the  president  more 
than  they  direct  it.  The  consequence  of  this  arrangement  is, 
that  at  every  new  election  the  fate  of  all  the  federal  public 
officers  is  in  suspense.  Mr.  Quincy  Adams,  on  his  entry 
into  office,  discharged  the  majority  of  the  individuals  who  had 
been  appointed  by  his  predecessor  ;  and  I  am  not  aware  that 
General  Jackson  allowed  a  single  removeable  functionary 
employed  in  the  federal  service  to  retain  his  place  beyond  the 
first  year  which  succeeded  his  election.  It  is  sometimes  made 
a  subject  of  complaint,  that  in  the  constitutional  monarchies 
of  Europe  the  fate  of  the  humbler  servants  of  an  administra 
tion  depends  upon  that  of  the  ministers.  But  in  elective  gov 
ernments  this  evil  is  far  greater.  In  a  constitutional  monar 
chy  successive  ministers  are  rapidly  formed  ;  but  as  the  princi 
pal  representative  of  the  executive  power  does  not  change, 
the  spirit  of  innovation  is  kept  within  bounds ;  the  changes 
which  take  place  are  in  the  details  rather  than  in  the  princi 
ples  of  the  administrative  system  ;  but  to  substitute  one  system 
for  another,  as  is  done  in  America  every  four  years  by  law,  is 
to  cause  a  sort  of  revolution.  As  to  the  misfortunes  which 
may  fall  upon  individuals  in  consequence  of  this  state  of 
things,  it  must  be  allowed  that  the  uncertain  situation  of  the 
public  officers  is  less  fraught  with  evil  consequences  in  Ame 
rica  than  elsewhere.  It  is  so  easy  to  acquire  an  independent 
position  in  the  United  States,  that  the  public  officer  who  loses 
his  place  may  be  deprived  of  the  comforts  of  life,  but  not  of 
the  means  of  subsistence. 

I  remarked  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  that  the  dangers 
of  the  elective  system  applied^to  the  head  of  the  state,  are 
augmented  or  decreased  by  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the 
people  which  adopts  it.  However  the  functions  of  the  exe 
cutive  power  may  be  restricted,  it  must  always  exercise  a 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  127 

great  influence  upon  the  foreign  policy  of  the  country,  for  a 
negotiation  cannot  be  opened  or  successfully  carried  on  other- 
wise  than  by  a  single  agent.  The  more  precarious  and  the 
more  perilous  the  position  of  a  people  becomes,  the  more  ab 
solute  is  the  want  of  a  fixed  and  consistent  external  policy, 
and  the  more  dangerous  does  the  elective  system  of  the  chief 
magistrate  become.  The  policy  of  the  Americans  in  rela 
tion  to  the  whole  world  is  exceedingly  simple ;  and  it  may 
almost  be  said  that  no  country  stands  in  need  of  them,  nor 
do  they  require  the  co-operation  of  any  other  people.  Their 
independence  is  never  threatened.  In  their  present  condition, 
therefore,  the  functions  of  the  executive  power  are  no  less 
limited  by  circumstances,  than  by  the  laws ;  and  the  presi 
dent  may  frequently  change  his  line  of  policy  without  in 
volving  the  state  in  difficulty  or  destruction. 

Whatever  the  prerogatives  ,of  the  executive  power  may 
be,  the  period  which  immediately  precedes  an  election,  and 
the  moment  of  its  duration,  must  always  be  considered  as  a 
national  crisis,  which  is  perilous  in  proportion  to  the  internal 
embarrassments  and  the  external  dangers  of  the  country. 
Few  of  the  nations  of  Europe  could  escape  the  calamities  of 
anarchy  or  of  conquest,  every  time  they  might  have  to  elect 
a  new  sovereign.  In  America  society  is  so  constituted  that 
it  can  stand  without  assistance  upon  its  own  basis ;  nothing 
is  to  be  feared  from  the  pressure  of  external  dangers ;  and 
the  election  of  the  president  is  a  cause  of  agitation,  but  not 
of  ruin. 


MODE    OF  ELECTION. 

Skill  of  the  American  Legislators  shown  in  the  Mode  of  Election 
adopted  by  them. — Creation  of  a  special  electoral  Body. — Separate 
Votes  of  these  Electors. — Case  in  which  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  is  called  upon  to  choose  the  President. — Results  of  the  twelve 
Elections  which  have  taken  Place  since  the  Constitution  has  been 
established. 

BESIDE  the  dangers  which  are  inherent  in  the  system,  many 
other  difficulties  may  arise  from  the  mode  of  election,  which 
may  be  obviated  by  the  precaution  of  the  legislator.  When 
a  people  met  in  arms  on  some  public  spot  to  choose  its  head, 
it  was  exposed  to  all  the  chances  of  civil  war  resulting  from 
so  martial  a  mode  of  proceeding,  beside  the  dangers  of  the 
elective  system  in  itself.  The  Polish  laws,  which  subjected 
the  election  of  the  sovereign  to  the  veto  of  a  single  individual, 


128  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

suggested  the  murder  of  that  individual,  or  prepared  the  way 
to  anarchy. 

In  the  examination  of  the  institutions,  and  the  political  as 
well  as  the  social  condition  of  the  United  States,  we  are  struck 
by  the  admirable  harmony  of  the  gifts  of  fortune  and  the 
efforts  of  man.  That  nation  possessed  two  of  the  main  causes 
of  internal  peace ;  it  was  a  new  country,  but  it  was  inhabit 
ed  by  a  people  grown  old  in  the  exercise  of  freedom.  Ame 
rica  had  no  hostile  neighbors  to  dread ;  and  the  American 
legislators,  profiting  by  these  favorable  circumstances,  created 
a  weak  and  subordinate  executive  power,  which  could  with 
out  danger  be  made  elective. 

It  then  only  remained  for  them  to  choose  the  least  danger 
ous  of  the  various  modes  of  election ;  and  the  rules  which 
they  laid  down  upon  this  point  admirably  complete  the  secu 
rities  which  the  physical  and  political  constitution  of  the 
country  already  afforded.  Their  object  was  to  find  the  mode 
of  election  which  would  best  express  the  choice  of  the  people 
with  the  least  possible  excitement  and  suspense.  It  was  ad 
mitted  in  the  first  place  that  the  simple  majority  should  be  de 
cisive  ;  but  the  difficulty  was  to  obtain  this  majority  without 
an  interval  of  delay  which  it  was  most  important  to  avoid.  It 
rarely  happens  that  an  individual  can  at  once  collect  the  ma- 
jority  of  the  suffrages  of  a  great  people ;  arid  this  difficulty 
is  enhanced  in  a  republic  of  confederate  states,  where  local 
influences  are  apt  to  preponderate.  The  means  by  which  it 
was  proposed  to  obviate  this  second  obstacle  was  to  delegate 
the  electoral  powers  of  the  nation  to  a  body  of  representatives. 
The  mode  of  election  rendered  a  majority  more  probable  ;  for 
the  fewer  the  electors  are,  the  greater  is  the  chance  of  their 
coming  to  a  final  decision.  It  also  offered  an  additional  pro 
bability  of  a  judicious  choice.  It  then  remained  to  be  decid 
ed  whether  this  right  of  election  was  to  be  intrusted  to  the 
legislative  body,  the  habitual  representative  assembly  of  the 
nation,  or  whether  an  electoral  assembly  should  be  formed 
for  the  express  purpose  of  proceeding  to  the  nomination  of  a 
president.  The  Americans  chose  the  latter  alternative,  from 
a  belief  that  the  individuals  who  were  returned  to  make  the 
laws  were  incompetent  to  represent  the  wishes  of  the  nation 
in  the  election  of  its  chief  magistrate  ;  and  that  as  they  are 
chosen  for  more  than  a  year,  the  constituency  they  represent 
ed  might  have  changed  its  opinion  in  that  time.  It  was 
thought  that  if  the  legislature  was  empowered  to  elect 
the  head  of  the  executive  power,  its  members  would,  for 
some  time  before  the  election,  be  exposed  to  the  manoeuvres  of 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  129 

corruption,  and  the  tricks  of  intrigue ;  whereas,"  the  special 
electors  would,  like  a  'jury,  remain  mixed  up  with  the  crowd 
till  the  day  of  action,  when  they  would  appear  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  giving  their  votes. 

It  was  therefore  estahlished  that  every  state  should  name  a 
certain  number  of  electors,*  who  in  their  turn  should  elect 
the  president ;  and  as  it  had  been  observed  that  the  assemblies 
to  which  the  choice  of  a  chief  magistrate  had  been  intrusted 
in  elective  countries,  inevitably  became  the  centres  of  passion 
and  of  cabal  ;  that  they  sometimes  usurped  an  authority 
which  did  not  belong  to  them  :  and  that  their  proceedings,  or 
the  uncertainty  w*hich  resulted  from  them,  were  sometimes 
prolonged  so  much  as  to  endanger  the  welfare  of  the  state, 
it  was  determined  that  the  electors  should  all  vote  upon  the 
same  day,  without  being  convoked  to  the  same  place. f  This 
double  election  rendered  a  majority  probable,  though  not  cer 
tain  ;  for  it  was  possible  that  as  many  differences  might  exist 
between  the  electors  as  between  their  constituents.  In  this 
case  it  was  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  one  of  three  mea 
sures  ;  either  to  appoint  new  electors,  or  to  consult  a  second 
time  those  already  app3inted,  or  to  defer  the  election  to  another 
authority.  The  first  two  of  these  alternatives,  independently  of 
the  uncertainty  of  their  results,  were  likely  to  delay  the  final 
decision,  arid  to  perpetuate  an  agitation  which  must  always 
be  accompanied  with  danger.  The  third  expedient  was  there 
fore  adopted,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  votes  should  be  trans 
mitted  sealed  to  the  president  of  the  senate,  and  that  they 
should  be  opened  and  counted  in  the  presence  of  the  senate 
and  the  house  of  representatives.  If  none  of  the  candidates 
has  a  majority,  the  house  of  representatives  then  proceeds 
immediately  to  elect  the  president ;  but  with  the  condition 
that  it  must  fix  upon  one  of  the  three  candidates  who  have  the 
highest  numbers.^ 

*  As  many  as  it  sends  members  to  congress.  The  number  of  elect 
ors  at  the  election  of  1833  was  288.  (See  the  National  Calendar, 
1833.) 

f  The  electors  of  the  same  state  assemble,  but  they  transmit  to  the 
central  government  the  list  of  their  individual  votes,  and  not  the  mere 
result  of  the  vote  of  the  majority. 

\  In  this  case  it  is  the  majority  of  the  states,  and  not  the  majority 
of  the  members,  which  decides  the  question  ;  so  that  New  York  has  not 
more  influence  in  the  debate  than  Rhode  Island.  Thus  the  citizens 
of  the  Union  are  first  consulted  as  members  of  one  and  the  same  com 
munity;  and,  if  they  cannot  agree,  recourse  is  had  to  the  division  of 
the  states,  each  of  which  has  a  separate  and  independent  vote.  This 
is  one  of  the  singularities  of  the  federal  constitution  which  can  only  be 
explained  by  the  jar  of  conflictin:;  interests. 
9 


130  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION; 

Thus  it  is  only  in  case  of  an  event  which  cannot  often 
happen,  and  which  can  never  be  foreseen,  that  the  election  is 
intrusted  to  the  ordinary  representatives  of  the  nation  ;  and 
even  then  they  are  obliged  to  choose  a  citizen  who  has  already 
been  designated  by  a  powerful  minority  of  the  special  electors. 
It  is  by  this  happy  expedient  that  the  respect  due  to  the 
popular  voice  is  combined  with  the  utmost  celerity  of  execu 
tion  and  those  precautions  which  the  peace  of  the  country 
demands.  But  the  decision  of  the  question  by  the  house  of 
representatives  does  not  necessarily  offer  an  immediate  solu 
tion  of  the  difficulty,  for  the  majority  of  that  assembly  may 
still  be  jdoubtful,  and  in  this  case  the  constitution  prescribes 
no  remedy.  Nevertheless,  by  restricting  the  number  of 
candidates  to  three,  and  by  referring  the  matter  to  the  judg 
ment  of  an  enlightened  public  body,  it  has  smoothed  all  the 
obstacles*  which  are  not  inherent  in  the  elective  system. 

In  the  forty  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  promulga 
tion  of  the  federal  constitution,  the  United  States  have  twelve 
times  chosen  a  president.  Ten  of  these  elections  took  place 
simultaneously  by  the  votes  of  the  special  electors  in  the 
different  states.  The  house  of  representatives  has  only 
twice  exercised  its  conditional  privilege  of  deciding  in  cases 
of  uncertainty :  the  first  time  was  at  the  election  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  in  1801 ;  the  second  was  in  1825,  when  Mr.  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  chosen. 


CRISIS  OF  THE  ELECTION. 

The  election  may  be  considered  as  a  national  Crisis.— Why  ?— Passions 
of  the  People. — Anxiety  of  the  President. — Calm  which  succeeds  the 
Agitation  of  the  Election. 

I  HAVE  shown  what  the  circumstances  are  which  favored  the 
adoption  of  the  elective  system  in  the  United  States,  and  what 
precautions  were  taken  by  the  legislators  to  obviate  its  dangers. 
The  Americans  are  accustomed  to  all  kinds  of  elections  ;  and 
they  know  by  experience  the  utmost  degree  of  excitement 
/which  is  compatible  with  security.  The  vast  extent  of  the 
country,  and  the  dissemination  of  the  inhabitants,  render  a 
collision  between  parties  less  probable  and  less  dangerous 
there  than  elsewhere.  The  political  circumstances  under 

» 

*  Jefferson,  in  1801,  was  not  elected  until  the  thirty-sixth  time%>f 
balloting. 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  131 

which  the  elections  have  hitherto  been  carried  on,  have  pre 
sented  no  real  embarrassments  to  the  nation. 

Nevertheless,  the  epoch  of  the  election  of  a  president  of  the 
United  States  may  be  considered  as  a  crisis  in  the  affairs  of 
the  nation.  The  influence  which  he  exercises  on  public 
business  is  no  doubt  feeble  and  indirect ;  but  the  choice  of  the 
president,  which  is  of  small  importance  to  each  individual 
citizen,  concerns  the  citizens  collectively ;  and  however 
trifling  an  interest  may  be,  it  assumes  a  great  degree  of  im 
portance  as  soon  as  it  becomes  general.  The  president 
possesses  but  few  means  of  rewarding  his  supporters  in  com 
parison  to  the  kings  of  Europe  ;  but  the  places  which  are  at 
his  disposal  are  sufficiently  numerous  to  interest,  directly  or 
indirectly,  several  thousand  electors  in  his  success.  More 
over,  political  parties  in  the  United  States,  as  well  as  else 
where,  are  led  to  rally  around  an  individual,  in  order  to 
acquire  a  more  tangible  shape  in  the  eyes  of  the  crowd,  and 
the  name  of  the  candidate  for  the  presidency  is  put  forth  as 
the  symbol  and  personification  of  their  theories.  For  these 
reasons  parties  are  strongly  interested  in  gaining  the  election, 
not  so  much  with  a  view  to  the  triumph  of  their  principles 
under  the  auspices  of  the  president  elected,  as  to  show,  by 
the  majority  which  returned  him,  the  strength  of  the  suppor- 
ers  of  those  principles. 

For  a  long  while  before  the  appointed  time  is  at  hand,  the 
election  becomes  the  most  important  and  the  all-engrossing 
topic  of  discussion.  The  ardor  of  faction  is  redoubled  ;  and 
all  the  artificial  passions  which  the  imagination  can  create  in 
the  bosom  of  a  happy  and  peaceful  land  are  agitated  and 
brought  to  light.  The  president,  on  the  other  hand,  is  ab 
sorbed  by  the  cares  of  self-defence.  He  no  longer  governs 
for  the  interest  of  the  state,  but  for  that  of  his  re-election  ;  he 
does  homage  to  the  majority,  and  instead  of  checking  its  pas 
sions,  as  his  duty  commands  him  to  do,  he  frequently  courts 
its  worst  caprices.  As  the  election  draws  near,  the  activity 
of  intrigue  and  the  agitation  of  the  populace  increase  ;  the 
citizens  are  divided  into  several  camps,  each  of  which  as 
sumes  the  name  of  its  favorite  candidate  ;  the  whole  nation 
glows  with  feverish  excitement ;  the  election  is  the  daily 
theme  of  the  public  papers,  the  subject  of  private  conversa 
tion,  the  end  of  every  thought  and  every  action,  the  sole  inter 
est  of  the  present.  As  soon  as  the  choice  is  determined,  this 
ardor  is  dispelled  ;  and  as  a  calmer  season  returns,  the  cur 
rent  of  the  state,  which  has  nearly  broken  its  banks,  sinks  to 


132  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

its  usual  level ;  but  who  can  refrain  from  astonishment  at  the 
causes  of  the  storm  ? 


RE-ELECTION   OF   THE    PRESIDENT. 

When  the  Head  of  the  executive  Power  is  re-eligible,  it  is  the  State 
which  is  the  Source  of  Intrigue  and  Corruption. — The  desire  ot 
being  re-elected,  the  chief  Aim  of  a  President  of  the  United  States. 
— Disadvantage  of  the  System  peculiar  to  America. — The  natural 

-  EvjJ.  of  Democracy  is  that  it  subordinates  all  Authority  to  the  slight 
est  Desires  of  the  Majority. — The  Re-election  of  the  President  en 
courages  this  Evil. 

IT  may  be  asked  whether  the  legislators  of  the  United  States 
did  right  or  wrong  in  allowing  the  re-election  of  the  president. 
It  seems  at  first  sight  contrary  to  all  reason  to  prevent  the 
head  of  the  executive  power  from  being  elected  a  second 
time.  The  influence  which  the  talents  and  the  character  of 
a  single  individual  may  exercise  upon  the  fate  of  a  whole  peo 
ple,  especially  in  critical  circumstances  or  arduous  times,  is 
well  known :  a  law  preventing  the  re-election  of  the  chief 
magistrate  would  deprive  the  citizens  of  the  surest  pledge  of 
the  prosperity  and  the  security  of  the  commonwealth  ;  and, 
by  a  singular  inconsistency,  a  man  would  be  excluded  from 
the  government  at  the  very  time  when  he  had  shown  his  abil 
ity  in  conducting  its  affairs. 

But  if  these  arguments  are  strong,  perhaps  still  more  pow 
erful  reasons  may  be  advanced  against  them.  Intrigue  and 
corruption  are  the  natural  defects  of  elective  government ;  but 
when  the  head  of  the  state  can  be  re-elected,  these  evils  rise 
to  a  great  height,  and  compromise  the  very  existence  of  the 
country.  When  a  simple  candidate  seeks  to  rise  by  intrigue, 
his  manoeuvres  must  necessarily  be  limited  to  a  narrow 
sphere ;  but  when  the  chief  magistrate  enters  the  lists,  he 
borrows  the  strength  of  the  government  for  his  own  purposes. 
In  the  former  case  the  feeble  resources  of  an  individual  are  in 
action  ;  in  the  latter,  the  state  itself,  with  all  its  immense  in 
fluence,  is  busied  in  the  work  of  corruption  and  cabal.  The 
prh  ate  citizen,  who  employs  the  most  immoral  practices  to 
acquire  power,  can  only  act  in  a  manner  indirectly  prejudi 
cial  to  the  public  prosperity.  But  if  the  representative  of  the 
executive  descends  into  the  lists,  the  cares  of  government 
dwindle  into  second-ra^e  importance,  and  the  success  of  his 
election  is  his  *irst  concern.  All  laws  and  negotiations  are 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  133 

then  to  him  nothing  more  than  electioneering  schemes  ;  places 
become  the  reward  of  services  rendered,  not  to  the  nation, 
but  to  its  chief;  and  the  influence  of  the  government,  if  not 
injurious  to  the  country,  is  at  least  no  longer  beneficial  to  the 
community  for  which  it  was  created. 

It  is  impossible  to  consider  the  ordinary  course  of  affairs  in 
the  United  States  without  perceiving  that  the  desire  of  being 
re-elected  is  the  chief  aim  of  the  president ;  that  his  whole 
administration,  and  even  his  most  indifferent  measures,  tend 
to  this  object ;  and  that,  as  the  crisis  approaches,  his  personal 
interest  takes  the  place  of  his  interest  in  the  public  good. 
The  principle  of  re-eligibility  renders  the  corrupt  influence 
of  elective  governments  still  more  extensive  and  pernicious. 
It  tends  to  degrade  the  political  morality  of  the  people,  and  to 
substitute  adroitness  for  patriotism. 

In  America  it  exercises  a  still  more  fatal  influence  on  the 
sources  of  national  existence.  Every  government  seems  to 
be  afflicted  by  some  evil  inherent  in  its  nature,  and  the  genius 
of  the  legislator  is  shown  in  eluding  its  attacks.  A  state 
may  survive  the  influence  of  a  host  of  bad  laws,  and  the  mis 
chief  they  cause  is  frequently  exaggerated  ;  but  a  law  which 
encourages  the  growth  of  the  canker  within  must  prove  fatal 
in  the  end,  although  its  bad  consequences  may  not  be  imme 
diately  perceived. 

The  principle  of  destruction  in  absolute  monarchies  lies  in 
the  excessive  and  unreasonable  extension  of  the  prerogative 
of  the  crown  ;  and  a  measure  tending  to  remove  the  constitu 
tional  provisions  which  counterbalance  this  influence  would 
be  radically  bad,  even  if  its  consequences  should  long  appear 
to  be  imperceptible.  By  a  parity  of  reasoning,  in  countries 
governed  by  a  democracy,  where  the  people  is  perpetually 
drawing  all  authority  to  itself,  the  laws  which  increase  or  ac 
celerate  its  action  are  the  direct  assailants  of  the  very  princi 
ple  of  the  government. 

The  greatest  proof  of  the  ability  of  the  American  legislators 
is,  that  they  clearly  discerned  this  truth,  and  that  they  had 
the  courage  to  act  up  to  it.  They  conceived  that  a  certain 
authority  above  the  body  of  the  people  was  necessary,  which 
should  enjoy  a  degree  of  independence,  without  however  be 
ing  entirely  beyond  the  popular  control  ;  an  authority  which 
would  be  forced  to  comply  with  the  permanent  determinations 
of  the  majority,  but  which  would  be  able  to  resist  its  caprices, 
and  to  refuse  its  most  dangerous  demands.  To  this  end  they 
centred  the  whole  executive  power  of  the  nation  in  a  single 
arm ;  they  granted  extensive  prerogatives  to  the  president, 


134  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

and  they  armed  him  with  the  veto  to  resist  the  encroachments 
of  the  legislature. 

But  by  introducing  the  principle  of  re-election,  they  partly 
destroyed  their  work  ;  and  they  rendered  the  president  but 
little  inclined  to  exert  the  great  power  they  had  invested  in 
his  hands.  If  ineligible  a  second  time,  the  president  would 
be  far  from  independent  of  the  people,  for  his  responsibility 
would  not  be  lessened  ;  but  the  favor  of  the  people  would  not 
be  so  necessary  to  him  as  to  induce  him  to  court  it  by  hu 
moring  its  desires.  If  re-eligible  (and  this  is  more  especially 
true  at  the  present  day,  when  political  morality  is  relaxed, 
and  when  great  men  are  rare),  the  president  of  the  United 
States  becomes  arj  easy  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  majority. 
He  adopts  its  likings  and  its  animosities,  he  hastens  to  antici 
pate  its  wishes,  he  forestalls  its  complaints,  he  yields  to  its 
idlest  cravings,  and  instead  of  guiding  it,  as  the  legislature 
intended  that  he  should  do,  he  is  ever  ready  to  follow  its  bid 
ding.  Thus,  in  order  not  to  deprive  the  state  of  the  talents  of 
an  individual,  those  talents  have  been  rendered  almost  useless, 
and  to  reserve  an  expedient  for  extraordinary  perils  the  coun 
try  has  been  exposed  to  daily  dangers. 

[The  question  of  the  propriety  of  leaving  the  president  re-eligible,  is 
one  of  that  class  which  probably  must  for  ever  remain  undecided.  The 
author  himself,  at  page  125,  gives  a  strong  reason  for  re-eligibility,  "  so 
that  the  chance  of  a  prolonged  administration  may  inspire  him  with 
hopeful  undertakings  for  the  public  good,  and  with  the  means  of  carry 
ing  them  into  execution," — considerations  of  great  weight.  There  is 
an  important  fact  bearing  upon  this  question,  which  should  be  stated 
in  connexion  with  it.  President  Washington  established  the  practice 
of  declining  a  third  election,  and  every  one  of  his  successors,  either  from 
a  sense  of  its  propriety  or  from  apprehensions  of  the, force  of  public 
opinion,  has  followed  the  example.  So  that  it  has  become  as  much  a 
part  of  the  constitution,  that  no  citizen  can  be  a  third  time  elected 
president,  as  if  it  were  expressed  in  that  instrument  in  words.  This 
may  perhaps  be  considered  a  fair  adjustment  of  objections  on  either  side. 
Those  against  a  continued  and  perpetual  re-eligibility  are  certainly 
met:  while  the  arguments  in  favor  of  an  opportunity  to  prolong  an 
administration  under  circumstances  that  may  justify  it,  are  allowed 
their  due  weight.  One  effect  of  this  practical  interpolation  of  the  con 
stitution  unquestionably  is,  to  increase  the  chances  of  a  president's 
being  once  re-elected  ;  as  men  will  be  more  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  a 
measure  that  thus  practically  excludes  the  individual  from  ever  again 
entering  the  field  of  competition. — American  Editor. ~\ 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  135 


FEDERAL  COURTS.* 

Political  Importance  of  the  Judiciary  in  the  United  States. — Difficulty 
of  treating  this  Subject. — Utility  of  judicial  Power  in  Confedera 
tions  — What  Tribunals  could  be  introduced  into  the  Union. — Ne 
cessity  of  establishing  federal  Courts  of  Justice. — Organization  of 
the  national  Judiciary. — The  Supreme  Court. — In  what  it  differs 
from  all  known  Tribunals. 

I  HAVE  inquired  into  the  legislative  and  executive  power  of 
the  Union,  and  the  judicial  power  now  remains  to  be  ex 
amined  ;  but  in  this  place  I  cannot  conceal  my  fears  from 
the  reader.  Judicial  institutions  exercise  a  great  influence 
on  the  condition  of  the  Anglo-Americans,  and  they  occupy  a 
prominent  place  among  what  are  properly  called  political 
institutions  :  in  this  respect  they  are  peculiarly  deserving  of 
our  attention.  But  I  am  at  a  loss  to  explain  the  political  ac 
tion  of  the  American  tribunals  without  entering  into  some 
technical  details  on  their  constitution  and  their  forms  of  pro 
ceeding  ;  and  I  know  not  how  to  descend  to  these  minutiae 
without  wearying  the  curiosity  of  the  reader  by  the  natural 
aridity  of  the  subject,  or  without  risking  to  fall  into  obscurity 
through  a  desire  to  be  succinct.  I  can  scarcely  hope  to  escape 
these  various  evils  ;  for  if  I  appear  too  prolix  to  a  man  of 
the  world,  a  lawyer  may  on  the  other  hand  complain  of  my 
brevity.  But  these  are  the  natural  disadvantages  of  my  sub 
ject,  and  more  especially  of  the  point  which  I  am  about  to 
discuss. 

The  great  difficulty  was,  not  to  devise  the  constitution  of 
the  federal  government,  but  to  find  out  a  method  of  enforcing 
its  laws.  Governments  have  in  general  but  two  means  of 
overcoming  the  opposition  of  the  people  they  govern,  viz., 
the  physical  force  which  is  at  their  own  disposal,  and  the 
moral  force  which  they  derive  from  the  decisions  of  the  courts 
of  justice. 

A  government  which  should  have  no  other  means  of  ex 
acting  obedience  than  open  war,  must  be  very  near  its  ruin ; 

*  See  chapter  vi.,  entitled,  "  Judicial  Power  in  the  United  States." 
This  chapter  explains  the  general  principles  of  the  American  theory 
of  judicial  institutions.  See  also  the  federal  constitution,  art.  3.  See 
the  Federalist,  Nos.  78-83,  inclusive  :  and  a  work  entitled,  "  Consti 
tutional  Law,  being  a  View  of  the  Practice  and  Jurisdiction  of  the 
Courts  of  the  United  States,"  by  Thomas  Sergeant.  See  Story,  pp 
134,  162,  489,  511,  581,  608  ;  and  the  organic  law  of  the  24th  Septem 
ber,  178U,  in  the  collection  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  by  Story, 
vol.  i.,  p.  53 


136  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION- 

for  one  of  two  alternatives  would  then  probably  occur :  if  its 
authority  was  small,  and  its  character  temperate,  it  would 
not  resort  to  violence  till  the  last  extremity,  and  it  would 
connive  at  a  number  of  partial  acts  of  insubordination,  in 
which  case  the  state  would  gradually  fall  into  anarchy ;  if  it 
was  enterprising  and  powerful,  it  would  perpetually  have  re 
course  to  its  physical  strength,  and  would  speedily  degene 
rate  into  a  military  despotism.  So  that  its  activity  would 
not  be  less  prejudicial  to  the  community  than  its  inaction. 

The  great  end  of  justice  is  to  substitute  the  notion  of  right  for 
that  of  violence ;  and  to  place  a  legal  barrier  between  the  power 
of  the^  government  and  the  use  of  physical  force.  The  au 
thority  which  is  awarded  to  the  intervention  of  a  court  of 
justice  by  the  general  opinion  of  mankind  is  so  surprisingly 
great,  that  it  clings  to  the  mere  formalities  of  justice,  and 
gives  a  bodily  influence  to  the  shadow  of  the  law.  The  moral 
force  which  courts  of  justice  possess  renders  the  introduction 
of  physical  force  exceedingly  rare,  and  it  is  very  frequently 
substituted  for  it ;  but  if  the  latter  proves  to  be  indispensable, 
its  power  is  doubled  by  the  association  of  the  idea  of  law. 

A  federal  government  stands  in  greater  need  of  the  support 
of  judicial  institutions  than  any  other,  because  it  is  naturally 
weak,  and  opposed  to  formidable  opposition.*  If  it  were 
always  obliged  to  resort  to  violence  in  the  first  instance,  it 
could  not  fulfil  its  task.  •  The  Union,  therefore,  required  a 
national  judiciary  to  enforce  the  obedience  of  the  citizens  to 
the  laws,  and  to  repel  the  attacks  which  might  be  directed 
against  them.  The  question  then  remained  what  tribunals 
were  to  exercise  these  privileges  ;  were  they  to  be  intrusted 
to  the  courts  of  justice  which  were  already  organized  in 
every  state  ?  or  was  it  necessary  to  create  federal  courts  ?  It 
may  easily  be  proved  that  the  Union  could  not  adapt  the  judi 
cial  power  of  the  state  to  its  wants.  The  separation  of  the 
judiciary  from  the  administrative  power  of  the  state,  no  doubt 
affects  the  security  of  every  citizen,  and  the  liberty  of  all. 
But  it  is  no  less  important  to  the  existence  of  the  nation  that 
these  several  powers  should  have  the  same  origin,  should  fol- 


*  Federal  laws  are  those  which  most  require  courts  of  justice, 
and  thoss  at  the  same  time  which  have  most  rarely  established  them. 
The  reason  is  that  confederations  have  usually  been  formed  by  inde 
pendent  states,  which  entertained  no  real  intention  of  obeying  the 
central  government,  and  which  very  readily  ceded  the  right  of  com 
manding  to  the  federal  executive,  and  very  prudently  reserved  the  right 
of  non-compliance  to  themselves. 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  137 

low  the  same  principles,  and  act  in  the  same  sphere ;  in  a 
word,  that  they  should  be  correlative  and  homogeneous.  No 
one,  I  presume,  ever  suggested  the  advantage  of  trying  offen 
ces  committed  in  France,  by  a  foreign  court  of  justice,  in 
order  to  ensure  the  impartiality  of  the  judges.  The  Ameri 
cans  form  one  people  in  relation  to  their  federal  government  : 
but  in  the  bosom  of  this  people  divers  political  bodies  have 
been  allowed  to  subsist,  which  are  dependent  on  the  national 
government  in  a  few  points,  and  independent  in  all  the  ivst 
— which  have  all  a  distinct  origin,  maxims  peculiar  to  them 
selves,  and  special  means  of  carrying  on  their  affairs.  To 
intrust  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  Union  to  tribunals 
instituted  by  these  political  bodies,  would  be  to  allow  foreign 
judges  to  preside  over  the  nation.  Nay  more,  not  only  is 
each  state  foreign  to  the  Union  at  large,  but  it  is  in  perpetual 
opposition  to  the  common  interests,  since  whatever  authority 
the  Union  loses  turns  to  the  advantage  of  the  states.  Thus 
to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Union  by  means  of  the  tribunals 
of  the  states,  would  be  to  allow  not  only  foreign,  but  partial 
judges  to  preside  over  the  nation. 

But  the  number,  still  more  than  the  mere  character,  of  the 
tribunals  of  the  states  rendered  them  unfit  for  the  service  of 
the  nation.  When  the  federal  constitution  was  formed,  there 
were  already  thirteen  courts  of  justice  in  the  United  States 
which  decided  causes  without  appeal.  That  number  is  now 
increased  to  twenty-four.  To  suppose  that  a  state  can  sub 
sist,  when  its  fundamental  laws  may  be  subjected  to  four- 
and-twenty  different  interpretations  at  the  same  time,  is  to 
advance  a  proposition  alike  contrary  to  reason  and  to  expe 
rience. 

The  American  legislators  therefore  agreed  to  create  a  fede 
ral  judiciary  power  to  apply  the  laws  of  the  Union,  and  to 
determine  certain  questions  affecting  general  interests,  which 
were  carefully  determined  beforehand.  The  entire  judicial 
power  of  the  Union  was  centred  in  one  tribunal,  which  was 
denominated  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States.  But, 
to  facilitate  the  expedition  of  business,  inferior  courts  were 
appended  to  it,  which  were  empowered  to  decide  causes  of 
small  importance  witliout  appeal,  and  with  appeal  causes  of 
more  magnitude.  The  members  of  the  supreme  court  are 
named  neither  by  the  people  nor  the  legislature,  but  by  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  acting  with  the  advice  of  the 
senate.  In  order  to  render  them  independent  of  the  other 
authorities,  their  office  was  made  inalienable ;  and  it  was 
determined  that  their  salary,  when  once  fixed,  should  not  be 


138  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

altered  by  the  legislature.*  It  was  easy  to  proclaim  the  prin- 
ciple  of  a  federal  judiciary,  but  difficulties  multiplied  when 
the  extent  of  its  jurisdiction  was  to  be  determined 


MEANS    OF   DETERMINING   THE    JURISDICTION    OF    THE     FEDERAL 
COURTS. 

Difficulty  of  determining  the  Jurisdiction  of  separate  courts  of  Justice 
in  Confederation. — The  Courts  of  the  Union  obtained  the  Right  of 
fixing  their  own  Jurisdiction. — In  what  Respect  this  Rule  attacks 
the  Portion  of  Sovereignty  reserved  to  the  several  States. — The 
Sovereignty  of  these  States  restricted  by  the  Laws,  and  the  Inter 
pretation  of  the  Laws. — Consequently,  the  Danger  of  the  several 
States  is  more  apparent  than  real. 

As  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  recognized  two  dis 
tinct  powers,  in  presence*  of  each  other,  represented  in  a 
judicial  point  of  view  by  two  distinct  classes  of  courts  of 
justice,  the  utmost  care  which  could  be  taken  in  defining 
their  separate  jurisdictions  would  have  been  insufficient  to 
prevent  frequent  collisions  between  those  tribunals.  The 
question  then  arose,  to  whom  the  right  of  deciding  the  com 
petency  of  each  court  was  to  be  referred. 

In  nations  which  constitute  a  single  body  politic,  when  a 
question  is  debated  between  two  courts  relating  to  their  mutual 
jurisdiction,  a  third  tribunal  is  generally  within  reach  to 
decide  the  difference;  and  this  is  effected  without  difficulty, 
because  in  these  nations  the  questions  of  judicial  competency 
have  no  connexioTi  with  the  privileges  of  the  national  supre- 

*  The  Union  was  divided  into  districts,  in  each  of  which  a  resident 
federal  judge  was  appointed,  and  the  court  in  which  he  presided  was 
termed  a  "  district  court."  Each  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court 
annually  visits  a  certain  portion  of  the-  Republic,  in  order  to  try  the 
most  important  causes  upon  the  spot ;  the  court  presided  over  by  this 
magistrate  is  styled  a  "  circuit  court."  Lastly,  all  the  most  serious 
cases  of  litigation  are  brought  before  the  supreme  court,  which  holds 
a  solemn  session  once  a  year,  at  which  all  the  judges  of  the  circuit 
courts  must  attend.  The  jury  was  introduced  into  the  federal  courts 
in  the  same  manner,  and  in  the  same  cases  as  into  the  courts  of  the 
states. 

It  will  be  observed  that  no  analogy  exists  between  the  supreme- 
court  of  the  United  States  and  the  French  cour  de  cassation,  since  the 
latter  only  hears  appeals.  The  supreme  court  decides  upon  the  evi 
dence  of  the  fact,  as  well  as  upon  the  law  of  the  case,  whereas  the 
cour  de  cassation  does  not  pronounce  a  decision  of  its  own,  but  refers 
the  cause  to  the  arbitration  of  another  tribunal.  See  the  law  of  2  1th 
September,  1789,  laws  of  the  United  States,  by  Story,  vol.  i.,  p.  53. 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  139 

macy.  But  it  was  impossible  to  create  an  arbiter  between  a 
superior  court  of  the  Union  and  the  superior  court  of  a  sepa 
rate  state,  which  would  not  belong  to  one  of  these  two  classes. 
It  was  therefore  necessary  to  allow  one  of  these  courts  to 
judge  its  own  cause,  and  to  take  or  to  retain  cognizance  of 
the  point  which  was  contested.  To  grant  this  privilege  to 
the  different  courts  of  the  states,  would  have  been  to  destroy 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Union  de  facto,  after  having  established 
it  de  jure  ;  for  the  interpretation  of  the  constitution  would 
soon  have  restored  that  portion  of  independence  to  the  states 
of  which  the  terms  of  that  act  deprived  them.  The  object 
of  the  creation  of  a  federal  tribunal  was  to  prevent  the  courts 
of  the  states  from  deciding  questions  affecting  the  national 
interests  in  their  own  department,  and  so  to  form  a  uniform 
body  of  jurisprudence  for  the  interpretation  of  the  laws  of 
the  Union.  This  end  would  not  have  been  accomplished  if 
the  courts  of  the  several  states  had  been  competent  to  decide 
upon  cases  in  their  separate  capacities,  from  which  they  were 
obliged  to  abstain  as  federal  tribunals.  The  supreme  court 
of  the  United  States  was  therefore  invested  with  the  right  of 
determining  all  questions  of  jurisdiction.* 

This  was  a  severe  blow  upon  the  independence  of  the 
states,  which  was  thus  restricted  not  only  by  the  laws,  but  by 
the  interpretation  of  them  ;  by  one  limit  which  was  known, 
and  by  another  which  was  dubious  ;  by  a  rule  which  was 
certain,  and  a  rule  which  was  arbitrary.  It  is  true  the  con 
stitution  had  laid  down  the  precise  limits  of  the  federal  supre 
macy,  but  whenever  this  supremacy  is  contested  by  one  of 
the  states,  a  federal  tribunal  decides  the  question.  Never 
theless,  the  dangers  with  which  the  independence  of  the 
states  was  threatened  by  this  mode  of  proceeding  are  less 
serious  than  they  appear  to  be.  We  shall  see  hereafter  that 
in  America  the  real  strength  of  the  country  is  vested  in  the 
provincial  far  more  than  in  the  federal  government.  The 
federal  judges  are  conscious  of  the  relative  weakness  of  the 
power  in  whose  name  they  act,  and  they  are  more  inclined 
to  abandon  a  right  of  jurisdiction  in  cases  where  it  is  justly 

*  In  order  to  diminish  the  number  of  these  suits,  it  was  decided  that 
in  a  great  many  federal  causes,  the  courts  of  the  states  should  be  em 
powered  to  decide  conjointly  with  those  of  the  Union,  the  losing  party 
having  then  a  right  of  appeal  to  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States.  The  supreme  court  of  Virginia  contested  the  right  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States  to  judge  an  appeal  from  its  deci 
sions,  but  unsuccessfully.  See  Kent's  Commentaries,  vol.  i.,  pp. 
300,  370,  et  seq.  ;  Story's  Commentaries,  p.  646 ;  and  "  The  Organic 
Law  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i.,  p.  35 


140  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

their  own,  than  to  assert  a  privilege  to  which  they  have  no 
legal  claim. 


DIFFERENT   CASES    OF    JURISDICTION. 

The  Matter  and  the  Party  are  the  first  Conditions  of  the  federal  Ju 
risdiction. — Suits  in  which  Ambassadors  are  engaged. — Suits  of  the 
Union. — Of  a  separate  State.— By  whom  tried. — Causes  resulting 
from  the  Laws  of  the  Union.  Why  judged  by  the  federal  Tribu 
nal.— Causes  relating  to  the  Non-performance  of  Contracts  tried  by 
the  federal  Courts. — Consequences  of  this  Arrangement. 

AFTER  having  appointed  the  means  of  fixing  the  competency 
of  the  federal  courts,  the  legislators  of  the  Union  defined  the 
cases  which  should  come  within  their  jurisdiction.  It  was 
established,  on  the  one  hand,  that  certain  parties  must  always 
be  brought  before  the  federal  courts,  without  any  regard  to 
the  special  nature  of  the  cause  ;  and,  on  the  other,  that  cer 
tain  causes  must  always  be  brought  before  the  same  courts, 
without  any  regard  to  the  quality  of  the  parties  in  the  suit. 
These  distinctions  were  therefore  admitted  to  be  the  bases  ot 
the  federal  jurisdiction. 

Ambassadors  are  the  representatives  of  nations  in  a  state 
of  amity  with  the  Union,  and  whatever  concerns  these  per 
sonages  concerns  in  some  degree  the  whole  Union.  When 
an  ambassador  is  a  party  in  a  suit,  that  suit  affects  the  wel 
fare  of  the  nation,  and  a  federal  tribunal  is  naturally  called 
upon  to  decide  it. 

The  Union  itself  may  be  involved  in  legal  proceedings, 
and  in  this  case  it  would  be  alike  contrary  to  the  customs 
of  all  nations,  and  to  common  sense,  to  appeal  to  a  tribunal 
representing  any  other  sovereignty  than  its  own  ;  the  fede 
ral  courts,  therefore,  take  cognizance  of  these  affairs. 

When  two  parties  belonging  to  two  different  states  are  en 
gaged  in  a  suit,  the  case  cannot  with  propriety  be  brought 
before  a  court  of  either  state.  The  surest  expedient  is  to 
select  a  tribunal  like  that  of  the  Union,  which  can  excite  the 
suspicions  of  neither  party,  and  which  offers  the  most  natural 
as  well  as  the  most  certain  remedy. 

When  the  two  parties  are  not  private  individuals,  but  states, 
an  important  political  consideration  is  added  to  the  same  mo 
tive  of  equity.  The  quality  of  the  parties,  in  this  case,  gives 
a  national  importance  to  all  their  disputes  ;  and  the  most  tri- 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  141 

fling  litigation  of  the  states  may  be  said  to  involve  the  peace 
of  the  whole  Union.* 

The  nature  of  the  cause  frequently  prescribes  the  rule  of 
competency.  Thus  all  the  questions  which  concern  maritime 
commerce  evidently  fall  under  the  cognizance  of  the  federal 
tribunals. f  Almost  all  these  questions  are  connected  with 
the  interpretation  of  the  law  of  nations  ;  and  in  this  respect 
they  essentially  interest  the  Union  in  relation  to  foreign  pow 
ers.  Moreover,  as  the  sea  is  not  included  within  the  limits 
of  any  peculiar  jurisdiction,  the  national  courts  can  only  hear 
causes  which  originate  in  maritime  affairs. 

The  constitution  comprises  under  one  head  almost  all  the 
cases  which  by  iheir  very  nature  come  within  the  limits  of 
the  federal  courts.  The  rule  which  it  lays  down  is  simple, 
but  pregnant  with  an  entire  system  of  ideas,  and  with  a  vast 
multitude  of  facts.  It  declares  that  the  judicial  power  of  the 
supreme  court  shall  extend  to  all  cases  in  law  and  equity 
arising  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  ' 

Two  examples  will  put  the  intentions  of  the  legislator  in 
the  clearest  light : — 

The  constitution  prohibits  the  states  from  making  laws  on 
the  value  and  circulation  of  money  :  if,  notwithstanding  this 
prohibition,  a  state  passes  a  law  of  this  kind,  with  which  the 
interested  parties  refuse  to  comply  because  it  is  contrary  to 
the  constitution,  the  case  must  come  before  a  federal  court, 
because  it  arises  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  Again, 
if  difficulties  arise  in  the  levying  of  import  duties  which  have 
been  voted  by  congress,  the  federal  court  must  decide  the 
case,  because  it  arises  under  the  interpretation  of  a  law  of  the 
United  States. 

This  rule  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  federal  constitution.  The  Union  as  it  was 
established  in  1789,  possesses,  it  is  true,  a  limited  supremacy  ; 
but  it  was  intended  that  within  its  limits  it  should  form  one 

*  The  constitution  also  says  that  the  federal  courts  shall  decide 
"  controversies  between  a  state  and  the  citizens  of  another  state."  And 
here  a  most  important  question  of  a  constitutional  nature  arose,  which 
was,  whether  the  jurisdiction  given  by  the  constitution  in  cases  in 
which  a  state  is  a  party,  extended  to  suits  brought  against  a  state  as 
well  as  by  it,  or  was  exclusively  confined  to  the  latter.  This  question 
was  most  elaborately  considered  in  the  case  of  Chisholme  v.  Georgia, 
and  was  decided  by  the  majority  of  the  supreme  court  in  the  affirma 
tive.  The  decision  created  general  alarm  among  the  states,  and  an 
amendment  was  proposed  and  ratified  by  which  the  power  was  entirely 
taken  aw  ay  so  far  as  it  regards  suits  brought  against  a  state.  See  Sto 
ry's  Commentaries,  p.  624,  or  in  the  large  edition,  §  1677. 

t  As,  for  instance,  all  cases  of  piracy. 


142  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

and  the  same  people.*  Within  those  limits  the  Union  is 
sovereign.  When  this  point  is  established  and  admitted,  the 
inference  is  easy  ;  for  if  it  be  acknowledged  that  the  United 
States  constitute  one  and  the  same  people  within  the  bounds 
prescribed  by  their  constitution,  it  is  impossible  to  refuse  them 
the  rights  which  belong  to  other  nations.  But  it  has  been 
allowed,  from  the  origin  of  society,  that  every  nation  has  the 
right  of  deciding  by  its  own  courts  those  questions  which  con 
cern  the  execution  of  its  own  laws.  To  this  it  is  answered, 
that  the  Union  is  in  so  singular  a  position,  that  in  relation  to 
some  matters  it  constitutes  a  people,  and  that  in  relation  to 
all  the, rest  it  is  a  nonentity.  But  the  inference  to  be  drawn 
is,  that  in  the  laws  relating  to  these  matters  the  Union  pos 
sesses  all  Ijie  rights  of  absolute  sovereignty.  The  difficulty 
is  to  know  what  these  matters  .are  ;  and  when  once  it  is  re 
solved  (and  we  have  shown  how  it  was  resolved,  in  speaking 
of  the  means  of  determining  the  jurisdiction  of  the  federal 
courts),  no  farther  doubt  can  arise  ;  for  as  soon  as  it  is  es 
tablished  that  a  suit  is  federal,  that  is  to  say,  that  it  belongs 
to  the  share  of  sovereignty  reserved  by  the  constitution  to  the 
Union,  the  natural  consequence  is  that  it  should  come  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  a  federal  court. 

Whenever  the  laws  of  the  United  States  are  attacked,  or 
whenever  they  are  resorted  to  in  self-defence,  the  federal 
courts  must  be  appealed  to.  Thus  the  jurisdiction  of  the  tri 
bunals  of  the  Union  extends  and  narrows  its  limits  exactly  in 
the  same  ratio  as  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union  augments  or 
decreases.  We  have  shown  that  the  principal  aim  of  the 
legislators  of  1789  was  to  divide  the  sovereign  authority  into 
two  parts.  In  the  one  they  placed  the  control  of  all  the  gen 
eral  interests  of  the  Union,  in  the  other  the  control  of  the  spe 
cial  interest  of  its  component  states.  Their  chief  solicitude 
was  to  arm  the  federal  government  with  sufficient  power  to 
enable  it  to  resist,  within  its  sphere,  the  encroachments  of  the 
several  states.  As  for  these  communities,  the  principle  of 
independence  within  certain  limits  of  their  own  was  adopted 
in  their  behalf ;  and  they  were  concealed  from  the  inspection, 
and  protected  from  the  control,  of  the  central  government.  In 
speaking  of  the  division  of  the  authority,  I  observed  that  this 
latter  principle  had  not  always  been  held  sacred,  since  the 

*  This  principle  was  in  some  measure  restricted  by  the  introduction 
of  the  several  states  as  independent  powers  into  the  senate,  and  by 
allowing  them  to  vote  separately  in  the  house  of  representatives  when 
the  president  is  elected  by  that  body ;  but  these  are  exceptions,  and 
the  contrary  principle  is  the  rule. 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  143 

states  are  prevented  from  passing  certain  laws,  which  appa 
rently  belong  to  their  own  particular  sphere  of  interest. 
When  a  state  of  the  Union  passes  a  law  of  this  kind,  the  citi 
zens  who  are  injured  by  its  execution  can  appeal  to  the  fede 
ral  courts. 

[The  remark  of  the  author,  that  whenever  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  are  attacked,  or  whenever  they  are  resorted  to  in  self-defence,  the 
federal  courts  must  be  appealed  to,  which  is  more  strongly  expressed 
in  the  original,  is  erroneous  and  calculated  to  mislead  on  a  point  of 
some  importance.  By  the  grant  of  power  to  the  courts  of  the  United 
States  to  decide  certain  cases,  the  powers  of  the  state  courts  are  not 
suspended,  but  are  exercised  concurrent.lv,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the 
courts  of  the  United  States.  But  if  the  decision  of  the  state  court  is  in 
favor  of  the  right,  title,  or  privilege  claimed  under  the  constitution,  a 
treaty,  or  under  a  law  of  congress,  no  appeal  lies  to  the  federal  courts. 
The  appeal  is  given  only  when  the  decision  is  against  the  claimant 
under  the  treaty  or  law.  See  3d  Cranch,  -Jo's.  1  Wheaton,  301. — 
American  Editor.'] 

Thus  the  jurisdiction  of  the  general  courts  extends  not  only 
to  all  the  cases  which  arise  under  the  laws  of  the  Union,  but 
also  to  those  which  arise  under  laws  made  by  the  several 
states  in  opposition  to  the  constitution.  The  states  are  pro 
hibited  from  making  ex-post-facto  laws  in  criminal  cases  ; 
arid  any  person  condemned  by  virtue  of  a  law  of  this  kind 
can  appeal  to  the  judicial  power  of  the  Union.  The  states 
are  likewise  prohibited  from  making  laws  which  may  have  a 
tendency  to  impair  the  obligations  of  contracts.*  If  a  citizen 
thinks  that  an  obligation  of  this  kind  is  impaired  by  a  law 
passed  in  his  state,  he  may  refuse  to  obey  it,  and  may  appeal 
to  the  federal  courts. 


*  It  is  perfectly  clear,  says  Mr.  Story  (Commentaries,  p.  503, 
the  large  edition,  §  1379),  that  any  law  which  enlarges,  abridges, 


or  in 
or  in 

any  manner  changes  the  intention  of  the  parties,  resulting  from  the 
stipulations  in  the  contract,  necessarily  impairs  it.  He  gives  in  the  same 
place  a  very  long  and  careful  definition  of  what  is  understood  by  a 
contract  in  federal  jurisprudence.  A  grant  made  by  the  state  to  a  private 
individual,  and  accepted  by  him,  is  a  contract,  and  cannot  be  revoked 
by  any  future  law.  A  charter  granted  by  the  state  to  a  company  is  a 
contract,  and  equally  binding  to  the  state  as  to  the  grantee.  The  clause 
of  the  constitution  here  referred  to  ensures,  therefore,  the  existence  of 
a  great  part  of  acquired  rights,  but  not  of  all.  Property  may  legally 
be  held,  though  it  may  not  have  passed  into  the  possessor's  hands  by 
means  of  a  contract ;  and  its  possession  is  an  acquired  right,  not 
guarantied  by  the  federal  constitution. 

f  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  is  given  by  Mr.  Story  (p.  508,  or  in 
the  large  edition,  §  1388).  "Dartmouth  college  in  New  Hampshire 
had  been  founded  by  a  charter  granted  to  certain  individuals  before  the 
American  revolution,  and  its  trustees  formed  a  corporation  under  this 


144  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION. 

This  provision  appears  to  me  to  be  the  most  serious 
attack  upon  the  independence  of  the  states.  The  rights 
awarded  to  the  federal  government  for  purposes  of  obvious 
national  importance  are  definite  and  easily  comprehensible  ; 
but  those  with  which  this  last  clause  invests  it  are  not  either 
clearly  appreciable  or  accurately  defined.  For  there  are  vast 
numbers  of  political  laws  which  influence  the  obligations  of 
contracts,  which  may  thus  furnish  an  easy  pretext  for  the 
aggressions  of  the  central  authority. 

[The  fears  of  the  author  respecting  the  danger  to  the  independence 
of  the  states  of  that  provision  of  the  constitution,  which  gives  to  the 
federal  courts  the  authority  of  deciding  when  a  state  law  impairs  the 
obligation  of  a  contract,  are  deemed  quite  unfounded.  The  citizens  of 
every  state  have  a  deep  interest  ,in  preserving  the  obligation  of  the  con 
tracts  entered  into  by  them  in  other  states  :  indeed  without  such  a 
controlling  power,  "  commerce  among  several  states  "  could  not  exist. 
The  existence  of  this  common  arbiter  is  of  the  last  importance  to  the 
continuance  of  the  Union  itself,  for  if  there  were  no  peaceable  means  of 
enforcing  the  obligations  of  contracts,  independent  of  all  state  authority, 
the  states  themselves  would  inevitably  coifte  in  collision  in  their  efforts 
to  protect  their  respective  citizens  from  the  consequences  of  the  legis 
lation  of  another  state. 

M.  De  Toc.queville's  observation,  that  the  rights  with  which  the 
clause  in  question  invests  the  federal  government  "  are  not  clearly 
appreciably  or  accurately  Defined,"  proceeds  upon  a  mistaken  view  of 
the  clause  itself.  It  relates  to  the  obligation  of  a  contract,  and  forbids 
any  act  by  which  that  obligation  is  impaired.  To  American  lawyers, 
this  seems  to  be  as  precise  and  definite  as  any  rule  can  be  made  by 
human  language.  The  distinction  between  the  right  to  the  fruits  of  a 
contract,  and  the  time,  tribunal,  and  manner,  in  which  that  right  is  to 
be  enforced,  seems  very  palpable.  At  all  events,  since  the  decision 

charter.  The  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  had,  without  the  consent 
of  this  corporation,  passed  an  act  changing  the  organization  of  the 
original  provincial  charter  of  the  college,  and  transferring  all  the  rights, 
privileges,  and  franchises,  from  the  old  charter  trustees  to  new  trustees 
appointed  under  the  act.  The  constitutionality  of  the  act  was  contested, 
and  after  solemn  arguments,  it  was  deliberately  held  by  the  supreme 
court  that  the  provincial  charter  was  a  contract  within  the  meaning  of 
the  constitution  (art.  i  ,  sect.  10),  and  that  the  amendatory  act  was 
utterly  void,  as  impairing  the  obligation  of  that  charter.  The  college 
was  deemed,  like  other  ^colleges  of  private  foundation,  to  be  a  private 
eleemosynary  institution,  endowed  by  its  charter  with  a  capacity  to  take 
property  unconnected  with  the  government.  Its  funds  were  bestowed 
upon  the  faith  of  the  charter,  and  those  funds  consisted  entirely  of 
private  donations.  It  is  true  that  the  uses  were  in  some  sense  public, 
that  is,  for  the  general  benefit,  and  not  for  the  mere  benefit  of  the  corpo 
rators  ;  but  this  did  not  make  the  corporation  a  public  corporation.  It 
was  a  private  institution  for  general  charity.  It  was  not  distinguishable 
in  principle  from  a  private  donation,  vested  in  private  trustees,  for  a 
public  charity,  or  for  a  pirticular  purpose  of  beneficence.  And  the 
state  itself,  if  it  had  bestowed  funds  upon  a  charity  of  the  same  nature, 
could  not  resume  those  funds." 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  145 

of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  in  those  cases  in  which  this 
clause  has  been  discussed,  no  difficulty  is  found,  practically,  in  under 
standing  the  exact  limits  of  the  prohibition. 

The  next  observation  of  the  author,  that  "  there  are  vast  numbers 
of  political  laws  which  influence  the  obligations  of  contracts,  which 
may  thus  furnish  an  easy  pretext  for  the  aggressions  of  the  central 
authority,"  is  rather  obscure.  Is  it  intended  that  political  laws  may 
be  passed  by  the  central  authority,  influencing  the  obligation  of  a  con 
tract,  and  thus  the  contracts  themselves  be  destroyed  ?  The  answer  to 
(his  would  be,  that  the  question  would  not  arise  under  the  clause  for 
bidding  laws  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,  for  that  clause 
applies  only  to  the  states  and  not  to  the  federal  government. 

If  it  be  intended,  that  the  states  may  find  it  necessary  to  pass  politi 
cal  laws,  which  affect  contracts,  and  that  under  the  pretence  of  vindi 
cating  the  obligation  of  contracts,  the  central  authority  may  make 
aggressions  on  the  states  and  annul  their  political  laws  : — the  answer 
is,  that  the  motive  to  the  adoption  of  the  clause  was  to  reach  laws  of 
every  description,  political  as  well  as  all  others,  and  that  it  was  the 
abuse  by  the  states  of  what  may  be  called  political  laws,  viz. :  acts 
confiscating  demands  of  foreign  creditors,  that  gave  rise  to  the  prohi 
bition.  The  settled  doctrine  now  is,  that  states  may,  pass  laws  in 
respect  to  the  making  of  contracts,  may  prescribe  what  contracts 
shall  be  made,  and  how,  but  that  they  cannot  impair  any  that  are 
already  made. 

The  writer  of  this  note  is  unwilling  to  dismiss  the  subject,  without 
remarking  upon  what  he  must  think  a  fundamental  error  of  the  author, 
which  is  exhibited  in  the  passage  commented  on,  as  well  as  in  other 
passages  : — ancTthat  is,  in  supposing  the  judiciary  of  the  United  States, 
and  particularly  the  supreme  court,  to  be  a  part  of  the  political  fede 
ral  government,  and  as  the  ready  instrument  to  execute  its  designs 
upon  the  state  authorities.  Although  the  judges  are  in  form  commis 
sioned  by  the  United  States,  yet,  in  fact,  they  are  appointed  by  the  dele 
gates  of  the  state,  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  concurrently 
with,  and  acting  upon,  the  iiomination  of  the  president.  If  the  legis 
lature  of  each  state  in  the  Union  were  to  elect  a  judge  of  the  supreme 
court,  he  would  not  be  less  a  political  officer  of  the  United  States  than 
he  now  is.  In  truth,  the  judiciary  have  no  political  duties  to  perform; 
they  are  arbiters  chosen  by  the  federal  and  state  governments,  jointly, 
and  when  appointed,  as  independent  of  the  one  as  of  the  other.  They 
cannot  be  removed  without  the  consent  of  the  states  represented  in  the 
senate,  and  they  can  be  removed  without  the  consent  of  the  president, 
and  against  his  wishes.  Such  is  the  theory  of  the  constitution.  And 
it  has  been  felt  practically,  in  the  rejection  by  the  senate  of  persons 
nominated  as  judges,  by  a  president  of  the  same  political  party  with  a 
majority  of  the  senators.  Two  instances  of  this  kind  occurred  during 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 

If  it  be  alleged  that  they  are  exposed  to  the  influence  of  the  execu 
tive  of  the  United  States,  by  the  expectation  of  offices  in  his  gift,  the 
answer  is,  that  judges  of  state  courts  are  equally  exposed  to  the  same 
influence — that  all  state  officers,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  are  in 
the  same  predicament ;  and  that  this  circumstance  does  not,  therefore, 
deprive  them  of  the  character  of  impartial  and  independent  arbiters. 

These  observations  receive  confirmation  from  every  recent  decision 

of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  in  which  certain  laws  of 

individual  states  have  been  sustained,  in  cases  where,  to  say  the  least, 

it  was  very  questionable  whether  they  did  not  infringe  the  provisions 

10 


\ 


146  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

of  the  constitution,  and  where  a  disposition  to  construe  those  provi 
sions  broadly  and  extensively,  would  have  found  very  plausible  grounds 
to  indulge  itself  in  annulling  the  state  laws  referred  to.  See  the  cases 
of  City  of  New  York  vs.  Miln,  lith  Peters,  103  ;  Briscor  vs.  the 
Bank  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  ib.,  257  ;  Charles  River 
Bridge  vs.  Warren  Bridge,  ib.,  420. — American  Ed.~\ 


PROCEDURE  OF  THE  FEDERAL  COURTS. 

Natural  Weakness  of  the  judiciary  Power  in  Confederations. — Legis 
lators  ought  to  strive  as  much  as  possible  to  bring  private  Individu 
als,  and'not  States,  before  the  federal  Courts. — How  the  Americans 
have  succeeded  in  this.— Direct  Prosecutions  of  private  Individuals 
in  the  federal  Courts. — Indirect  Prosecution  in  the  States  which 
violate  the  Laws  of  the  Union. — The  Decrees  of  the  Supreme  Court 
enervate  but  do  not  destroy  the  provincial  Laws. 

I  HAVE  shown  what  the  privileges  of  the  federal  courts  are, 
and  it  is  no  less  impprtant  to  point  out  the  manner  in  which 
they  are  exercised.  The  irresistible  authority  of  justice  in 
countries  in  which  the  sovereignty  is  undivided,  is  derived 
from  the  fact  that  the  tribunals  of  those  countries  represent 
the  entire  nation  at  issue  with  the  individual  against  whom 
their  decree  is  directed ;  and  the  idea  of  power  is  thus  intro 
duced  to  corroborate  the  idea  of  right.  But  this  is  not  always 
the  case  in  countries  in  which  the  sovereignty  is  divided  :  in 
them  the  judicial  power  is  more  frequently  opposed  to  a  frac 
tion  of  the  nation  than  to  an  isolated  individual,  and  its  moral 
authority  and  physical  strength  are  consequently  diminished. 
In  federal  states  the  power  of  the  judge  is  naturally  decreased, 
arid  that  "of  the  justiciable  parties  is  augmented.  The  aim 
of  the  legislator  in  confederate  states  ought  therefore  to  be, 
to  render  the  position  of  the  courts  of  justice  analogous  to 
that  which  they  occupy  in  countries  where  the  sovereignty 
is  undivided ;  in  other  words,  his  efforts  ought  constantly  to 
tend  to  maintain  the  judicial  power  of  the  confederation  as 
the  representative  of  the  nation,  and  the  justiciable  party  as 
the  representative  of  an  individual  interest. 

Every  government,  whatever  may  be  its  constitution,  re 
quires  the  means  of  constraining  its  subjects  to  discharge 
their  obligations,  and  of  protecting  its  privileges  from  their 
assaults.  As  far  as  the  direct  action  of  the  government 
on  the  community  is  concerned,  the  constitution  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  contrived,  by  a  master-stroke  of  policy,  that  the 
federal  courts,  acting  in  the  name  of  the  laws,  should  only 
take  cognizance  of  parties  in  an  individual  capacity.  For, 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  147 

as  it  had  been  declared  that  the  Union  consisted  of  one 
and  the  same  people  within  the  limits  laid  down  by  the 
constitution,  the  inference  was  that  the  government  created 
by  this  constitution,  and  acting  within  these  limits,  was  in 
vested  with  all  the  privileges  of  a  national  government,  one 
of  the  principal  of  which  is  the  right  of  transmitting  its 
injunctions  directly  to  the  private  c;tizen.  When,  for  in 
stance,  the  Union  votes  an  impost,  it  does  not  apply  to  the 
states  for  the  levying  of  it,  bu  to  every  American  citizen, 
in  proportion  to  his  assessment.  The  supreme  court,  which 
is  empowered  to  enforce  the  execution  of  this  law  of  the 
Union,  exerts  its  influence  not  upon  a  refractory  state,  but 
upon  the  private  taxpayer;  and,  like  the  judicial  power  ur 
other  nations,  it  is  opposed  to  the  person  of  an  individual. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  Union  chose  its  own  antagonist ; 
and  as  that  antagonist  is  feeble,  he  is  naturally  worsted. 

But  the  difficulty  increases  when  the  proceedings  are 
not  brought  forward  by  but  against  the  Union.  The  con 
stitution  recognizes  the  legislative  power  of  the  state ;  and 
a  law  so  enacted  may  impair  the  privileges  of  the  Union, 
in  which  case  a  collision  is  unavoidable  between  that  body 
und  the  state  which  had  passed  the  law ;  and  it  only  re 
mains  to  select  the  least  dangerous  remedy,  which  is  very 
clearly  deducible  from  the  general  principles  I  have  before 
established.* 

It  may  be  conceived  that,  in  the  case  under  considera 
tion,  the  Union  might  have  sued  the  state  before  a  federal 
court,  which  would  have  annulled  the  act;  and  by  this 
means  it  would  have  adopted  a  natural  course  of  proceed 
ing :  but  the  judicial  power  would  have  been  placed  in 
open  hostility  to  the  state,  and  it  was  desirable  to  avoid 
this  predicament  as  much  as  possible.  The  Americans 
hold  that  it  is  nearly  impossible  that  a  new  law  should 
not  impair  the  interests  of  some  private  individuals  by  its 
provisions  :  these  private  interests  are  assumed  by  the  Ame 
rican  legislators  as  the  ground  of  attack  against  such  mea 
sures  as  may  be  prejudicial  to  the  Union,  and  it  is  to  these 
cases  that  the  protection  of  the  supreme  court  is  extended. 

Suppose  a  state  vends  a  certain  portion  of  its  territory  to 
a  company,  and  that  a  year  afterwards  it  passes  a  law  by 
which  the  territory  is  otherwise  disposed  of,  and  that  clause 
of  the  constitution,  which  prohibits  laws  impairing  the  obliga 
tion  of  contracts,  is  violated.  When  the  purchaser  under 

*  See  chapter  vi.,  on  judicial  power  in  America. 


148  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

the  second  act  appears  to  take  possession,  the  possessor 
under  the  first  act  brings  his  action  before  the  tribunals  of 
the  Union,  and  causes  the  title  of  the  claimant  to  be  pro 
nounced  null  and  void.*  Thus,  in  point  of  fact,  the  judicial 
power  of  the  Union  is  contesting  the  claims  of  the  sovereignty 
of  a  state ;  but  it  only  acts  indirectly  and  upon  a  special  ap 
plication  of  detail :  it  attacks  the  law  in  its  consequences,  not 
in  its  principle,  and  it  rather  weakens  than  destroys  it. 

The  last  hypothesis  that  remained  was  that  each  state 
formed  a  corporation  enjoying  a  separate  existence  and  dis 
tinct  civil  rights,  and  that  it  could  therefore  sue  or  be  sued 
before,  a  tribunal.  Thus  a  state  could  bring  an  action 
against  another  state.  In  this  instance  the  Union  was  not 
called  upon  to  contest  a  provincial  law,  but  to  try  a  suit  in 
which  a  state  was  a  party.  This  suit  was  perfectly  similar 
to  any  other  cause,  except  that  the  quality  of  the  parties  was 
different ;  and  here  the  danger  pointed  out  at  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter  exists  with  less  chance  of  being  avoided. 
The  inherent  disadvantage  of  the  very  essence  of  federal  con 
stitutions  is,  that  they  engender  parties  in  the  bosom  of  the 
nation  which  present  powerful  obstacles  to  the  free  course  of 
justice. 


HIGH   RANK    OF    THE    SUPREME    COURTS    AMONG    THE    GREAT 
POWERS    OF    STATE. 

No  Nation  ever  constituted  so  great  a  judicial  Power  as  the  Americans. 
Extent  of  its  Prerogative. — Its  political  Influence. — The  Tranquillity 
and  the  very  Existence  of  the  Union  depend  on  the  Discretion  of 
the  seven  federal  Judges. 

WHEN  we  have  successfully  examined  in  detail  the  organi 
zation  of  the  supreme  court,  and  the  entire  prerogatives 
which  it  exercises,  we  shall  readily  admit  that  a  more  impos 
ing  judicial  power  was  never  constituted  by  any  people. 
The  supreme  court  is  placed  at  the  head  of  all  known  tribu 
nals,  both  by  the  nature  of  its  rights  and  the  class  of  justici 
able  parties  which  it  controls. 

In  all  the  civilized  countries  of  Europe,  the  government 
has  always  shown  the  greatest  repugnance  to  allow  the  cases 
to  which  it  was  itself  a  party  to  be  decided  by  the  ordinary 
course  of  justice.  This  repugnance  naturally  attains  its 

*  See  Kent's  Commentaries,  vol.  i.,  p.  387. 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  149 

utmost  height  in  an  absolute  government ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  privileges  of  the  courts  of  justice  are  extended  with 
the  increasing  liberties  of  the  people  ;  but  no  European  na 
tion  has  at  present  held  that  all  judicial  controversies,  with 
out  regard  to  their  origin,  can  be  decided  by  the  judges  of 
common  law. 

In  America  this  theory  has  been  actually  put  in  practice ; 
and  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  is  the  sole  tribu 
nal  of  the  nation.  Its  power  extends  to  all  the  cases  arising 
under  laws  and  treaties  made  by  the  executive  and  legisla 
tive  authorities,  to  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  juris 
diction,  and  in  general  to  all  points  which  affect  the  law  of 
nations.  It  may  even  be  affirmed  that,  although  its  constitu 
tion  is  essentially  judicial,  its  prerogatives  are  almost  entirely 
political.  Its  sole  object  is  to  enforce  the  execution  of  the 
laws  of  the  Union ;  and  the  Union  only  regulates  the  rela 
tions  of  the  government  with  the  citizens,  and  of  the  nation 
with  foreign  powers :  the  relations  of  citizens  among  them 
selves  are  almost  exclusively  regulated  by  the  sovereignty  of 
the  states. 

A  second  and  still  greater  cause  of  the  preponderance  of 
this  court  may  be  adduced.  In  the  nations  of  Europe  the 
courts  of  justice  are  only  called  upon  to  try  the  controversies 
of  private  individuals ;  but  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States  summons  sovereign  powers  to  its  bar.  When  the 
clerk  of  the  court  advances  on  the  steps  of  the  tribunal,  and 
simply  says,  "  The  state  of  New  York  versus  the  state 
of  Ohio,"  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  the  court  which  he 
addresses  is  no  ordinary  body  ;  and  when  it  is  recollected  that 
one  of  these  parties  represents  one  million,  and  the  other  two 
millions  of  men,  one  is  struck  by  the  responsibility  of  the 
seven  judges  whose  decision  is  about  to  satisfy  or  to  disappoint 
so  large  a  number  of  their  fellow-citizens. 

The  peace,  the  prosperity,  and  the  very  existence  of  the 
Union,  are  invested  in  the  hands  of  the  seven  judges.  With 
out  their  active  co-operation  the  constitution  would  be  a  dead 
letter :  the  executive  appeals  to  them  for  assistance  against 
the  encroachments  of  the  legislative  powers  ;  the  legislature 
demands  their  protection  from  the  designs  of  the  executive  ; 
they  defend  the  Union  from  the  disobedience  of  the  states,  the 
states  from  the  exaggerated  claims  of  the  Union,  the  public 
interest  against  the  interests  of  private  citizens,  and  the  con 
servative  spirit  of  order  against  the  fleeting  innovations  of 
democracy.  Their  power  is  enormous,  but  it  is  clothed  in 
the  authority  of  public  opinion.  They  are  the  all-powerfu) 


1">0  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

guardians  of  a  people  which  respects  law ;  but  they  would 
be  impotent  against  popular  neglect  or  popular  contempt. 
The  force  of  public  opinion  is  the  most  intractable  of  agents, 
because  its  exact  limits  cannot  be  defined  ;  and  it  is  not  less 
dangerous  to  exceed,  than  to  remain  below  the  boundary  pre 
scribed. 

The  federal  judges  must  not  only  be  good  citizens,  and 
men  possessed  of  that  information  and  integrity  which  are 
indispensable  to  magistrates,  but  they  must  be  statesmen — 
politicians,  not  unread  in  the  signs  of  the  times,  not  afraid  to 
brave  the  obstacles  which  can  be  subdued,  nor  slow  to  turn 
aside  sjuch  encroaching  elements  as  may  threaten  the  supre 
macy  of  the  Union  and  the  obedience  which  is  due  to  the 
laws. 

The  president,  who  exercises  a  limited  power,   may  err 
without  causing  great  mischief  in  the  state.     Congress  may 
decide  amiss  without  destroying  the  Union,  because  the  elec 
toral  body  in  which  congress  originates  may  cause  it  to  re 
tract   its  decision   by   changing   its  members.     But  if  the] 
supreme  court  is  ever  composed  of  imprudent  men  or  bad") 
citizens,  the  Union  may  be  plunged  into  anarchy  or  civilj 
war. 

The  real  cause  of  this  danger,  however,  does  not  lie  in  the 
constitution  of  the  tribunal,  but  in  the  very  nature  of  federal 
governments.  We  have  observed  that  in  confederate  peoples 
it  is  especially  necessary  to  consolidate  the  judicial  authority, 
because  in  no  other  nations  do  those  independent  persons 
who  are  able  to  cope  with  the  social  body,  exist,  in  greater 
power  or  in  a  better  condition  to  resist  the  physical  strength 
of  the  government.  But  the  more  a  power  requires  to  be 
strengthened,  the  more  extensive  and  independent  it  must  be 
made ;  and  the  dangers  which  its  abuse  may  create  are 
heightened  by  its  independence  and  its  strength.  The  source 
of  the  evil  is  not,  therefore,  in  the  constitution  of  the  power, 
but  in  the  constitution  of  those  states  which  renders  its  ex 
istence  necessary. 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  151 


IN    WHAT    RESPECTS    THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION    IS    SUPERIOR 
TO    THAT    OF    THE    STATES. 

In  what  respects  the  Constitution  of  the  Union  can  be  compared  to 
that  of  the  States. — Superiority  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Union 
attributable  to  the  Wisdom  of  the  federal  Legislators. — Legislature 
of  the  Union  less  dependent  on  the  People  than  that  of  the  States. 
— Executive  Power  more  independent  in  its  Sphere. — Judicial 
Power  less  subjected  to  the  Inclinations  of  the  Majority. — Practical 
Consequences  of  these  Facts. — The  Dangers  inherent  in  a  democra 
tic  Government  eluded  by  the  federal  Legislators,  and  increased  by 
the  Legislators  of  the  States. 

THE  federal  constitution  diners  essentially  from  that  of  the 
states  in  the  ends  which  it  is  intended  to  accomplish  ;  but  in 
the  means  by  which  these  ends  are  promoted,  a  greater 
analogy  exists  between  them.  The  objects  of  the  govern 
ments  are  different,  but  their  forms  are  the  same  ;  and  in 
this  special  point  of  view  there  is  some  advantage  in  com 
paring  them  together. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  the  federal  constitution  is  superior  to 
all  the  constitutions  of  the  states,  for  several  reasons. 

The  present  constitution  of  the  Union  was  formed  at  a 
later  period  than  those  of  the  majority  of  the  states,  and  it 
may  have  derived  some  melioration  from  past  experience. 
But  we  shall  be  led  to  acknowledge  that  this  is  only  a  secon 
dary  cause  of  its  superiority,  when  we  recollect  that  eleven 
new  states  have  been  added  to  the  American  confederation 
since  the  promulgation  of  the  federal  constitution,  and  that 
these  new  republics  have  always  rather  exaggerated  than 
avoided  the  defects  which  existed  in  the  former  constitutions. 

The  chief  cause  of  the  superiority  of  the  federal  constitu 
tion  lay  in  the  character  of  the  legislators  who  composed  it. 
.4t  the  time  when  it  was  formed  the  dangers  of  the  confedera 
tion  were  imminent,  and  its  ruin  seemed  inevitable.  In  this 
extremity  the  people  chose  the  men  who  most  deserved  the 
esteem,  rather  than  those  who  had  gained  the  affections  of 
the  country.  I  have  already  observed,  that  distinguished  as 
almost  all  the  legislators  of  the  Union  were  for  their  in 
telligence,  they  were  still  more  so  for  their  patriotism.  They 
had  all  been  nurtured  at  a  time  when  the  spirit  of  liberty 
was  braced  by  a  continual  struggle  against  a  powerful  and 
predominant  authority.  When  the  contest  was  terminated, 
while  the  excited  passions  of  the  populace  persisted  in  war 
ring  with  dangers  which  had  ceased  to  threaten  them,  these 
men  stopped  short,  in  their  career ;  they  cast  a  calmer  and 


152  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION 

more  penetrating  look  upon  the  country  which  was  now  their 
own  ;  they  perceived  that  the  war  of  independence  was  defi 
nitely  ended,  and  that  the  only  dangers  which  America  had 
to  fear  were  those  which  might  result  from  the  abuse  of  the 
freedom  she  had  won.  They  had  the  courage  to  say  what 
they  believed  to  be  true,  because  they  were  animated  by  a 
warm  and  sincere  love  of  liberty ;  and  they  ventured  to  pro 
pose  restrictions,  because  they  were  resolutely  opposed  to  de 
struction.* 

The  greater  number  of  the  constitutions  of  the  states  assign 
one  year  for  the  duration  of  the  house  of  representatives,  and 
two  years  for  that  of  the  senate  ;  so  that  members  of  the 
legislative  body  are  constantly  and  narrowly  tied  down  by  the 
slightest  desires  of  their  constituents.  The  legislators  of  the 
Union  were  of  opinion  that  this  excessive  dependence  of  the 
legislature  tended  to  alter  the  nature  of  the  main  conse 
quences  of  the  representative  system,  since  it  vested  the 
source  not  only  of  authority,  but  of  government,  in  the  peo- 

*  At  this  time  ^  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  was  one  of  the  principal 
founders  of  the  constitution,  ventured  to  express  the  following  senti 
ments  in  the  Federalist,  No.  71 :  "  There  are  some  who  would  be 
inclined  to  regard  the  servile  pliancy  of  the  executive  to  a  prevailing 
current,  either  in  the  community  or  in  the  legislature,  as  its  best  re 
commendation.  But  such  men  entertain  very  crude  notions,  as  well 
of  the  purpose  for  which  government  was  instituted,  as  of  the  true 
means  by  which  the  public  happiness  may  be  promoted.  The  repub 
lican  principle  demands  that  the  deliberative  sense  of  the  community 
should  govern  the  conduct  of  those  to  whom  they  intrust  the  manage 
ments  of  their  affairs  ;  but  it  does  not  require  an  unqualified  complai 
sance  to  every  sudden  breeze  of  passion,  or  to  every  transient  impulse 
which  the  people  may  receive  from  the  arts  of  men  who  flatter  their 
prejudices  to  betray  their  interests  It  is  a  just  observation  that  the 
people  commonly  inte nd  the  public  good.  This  often  applies  to  their 
very  errors.  But  their  good  sense  would  despise  the  adulator  who 
should  pretend  that  they  would  always  reason  right  about  the  means 
of  promoting  it.  They  know  from  experience  that  they  sometimes 
err ;  and  the  wonder  is  that  they  so  seldom  err  as  they  do,  beset,  as 
they  continually  are,  by  the  wiles'  of  parasites  and  sycophants ;  by  the 
snares  of  the  ambitious,  the  avaricious,  the  desperate  ;  by  the  artifices 
of  men  who  possess  their  confidence  more  than  they  deserve  it;  and 
of  those  who  seek  to  possess  rather  than  to  deserve  it.  When  occa 
sions  present  themselves  in  which  the  interests  of  the  people  are  at 
variance  with  their  inclinations,  it  is  the  duty  of  persons  whom  they 
have  appointed  to  be  the  guardians  of  those  interests,  to  withstand 
the  temporary  delusion,  in  order  to  give  them  time  and  opportunity  for 
more  cool  and  sedate  reflection.  Instances  might  be  cited  in  which  a 
conduct  of  this  kind  has  saved  the  people  from  very  fatal  consequences 
of  their  own  mistakes,  and  has  procured  lasting  monuments  of  their 
gratitude  to  the  men  who  had  courage  and  magnan'mity  enough  to 
serve  at  the  peril  of  their  displeasure." 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  153 

pie.  They  increased  the  length  of  the  time  for  which  the 
representatives  were  returned,  in  order  to  give  them  freer 
scope  for  the  exercise  of  their  own  judgment. 

The  federal  constitution,  as  well  as  the  constitutions  of  the 
different  states,  divided  the  legislative  body  into  two  branches. 
But  in  the  states  these  two  branches  were  composed  of  the 
same  elements  and  elected  in  the  same  manner.  The  con 
sequence  was  that  the  passions  and  inclinations  of  the  popu 
lace  were  as  rapidly  and  as  energetically  represented  in  one 
chamber  as  in  the  other,  and  that  laws  were  made  witli  all 
the  characteristics  of  violence  and  precipitation.  By  the 
federal  constitution  the  two  houses  originate  in  like  manner 
in  the  choice  of  the  people ;  but  the  conditions  of  eligibility 
and  the  mode  of  election  were  changed,  to  the  end  that  if,  as 
is  the  case  in  certain  nations,  one  branch  of  the  legislature 
represents  the  same  interests  as  the  other,  it  may  at  least  re 
present  a  superior  degree  of  intelligence  and  discretion.  A 
mature  age  was  made  one  of  the  conditions  of  the  senatorial 
dignity,  and  the  upper  house  was  chosen  by  an  elected  as 
sembly  of  a  limited  number  of  members. 

To  concentrate  the  whols  social  force  in  the  hands  of  the 
legislative  body  is  the  natural  tendency  of  democracies  ;  for 
as  this  is  the  power  which  emanates  the  most  directly  from 
the  people,  it  is  made  to  participate  most  fully  in  the  prepon 
derating  authority  of  the  multitude,  and  it  is  naturally  led  to 
monopolise  every  species  of  influence.  This  concentration 
is  at  once  prejudicial  to  a  well-conducted  administration,  and 
favorable  to  the  despotism  of  the  majority.  The  legislators 
of  the  states  frequently  yielded  to  these  democratic  propen 
sities,  which  were  invariably  and  courageously  resisted  by 
the  founders  of  the  Union. 

In  the  states  the  executive  power  is  vested  in  the  hands  of 
a  magistrate,  who  is  apparently  placed  upon  a  level  with  the 
legislature,  but  who  is  in  reality  nothing  more  than  the  blind 
agent  and  the  passive  instrument  of  its  decisions.  He  can 
derive  no  influence  from  the  duration  of  his  functions,  which 
terminate  with  the  revolving  year,  or  from  the  exercise  of 
prerogatives  which  can  scarcely  be  said  to  exist.  The  legis 
lature  can  condemn  him  to  inaction  by  intrusting  the  execu 
tion  of  the  laws  to  special  committees  of  its  own  members, 
and  can  annul  his  temporary  dignity  by  depriving  him  of  his 
salary.  The  federal  constitution  vests  all  the  privileges  and 
all  the  responsibility  of  the  executive  power  in  a  single  indi 
vidual.  The  duration  of  the  presidency  is  fixed  at  four 
years  ;  the  salary  of  the  individual  who  fills  that  office  can- 


154  THE    FEDERAL   CONSTITUTION. 

not  be  altered  during  the  term  of  his  functions  ;  he  is  pro- 
tected  by  a  body  of  official  dependents,  and  armed  with  a 
suspensive  veto.  In  short,  every  effort  was  made  to  confer 
a  strong  and  independent  position  upon  the  executive  author 
ity,  within  the  limits  which  had  been  prescribed  to  it. 

In  the  constitution  of  all  the  states  the  judicial  power  is 
that  which  remains  the  most  independent  of  the  legislative 
authority  :  nevertheless,  in  all  the  states  the  legislature  has 
reserved  to  itself  the  right  of  regulating  the  emoluments  of 
the  judges,  a  practice  which  necessarily  subjects  these  ma 
gistrates  to  its  immediate  influence.  In  some  states  the 
judges »are  only  temporarily  appointed,  which  deprives  them 
of  a  great  portion  of  their  power  and  their  freedom.  In 
others  the  legislative  and  judicial  powers  are  entirely  con 
founded  :  thus  the  senate  of  New  York,  for  instance,  consti 
tutes  in  certain  cases  the  superior  court  of  the  state.  The 
federal  constitution,  on  the  other  hand,  carefully  separates 
the  judicial  authority  from  all  external  influences :  and  it 
provides  for  the  independence  of  the  judges,  by  declaring 
that  their  salary  shall  not  be  altered,  and  that  their  functions 
shall  be  inalienable. 

[It  is  not  universally  correct,  as  supposed  by  the  author,  that  the 
state  legislatures  can  deprive  their  governor  of  his  salary  at  pleasure. 
In  the  constitution  of  New  York  it  is  provided,  that  the  governor 
"  shall  receive  for  his  services  a  compensation  which  shall  neither  be 
increased  nor  diminished  during  the  term  for  which  he  shall  have  been 
elected  ;"  and  similar  provisions  are  believed  to  exist  in  other  states. 

Nor  is  the  remark  strictly  correct,  that  the  federal  constitution 
"  provides  for  the  independence  of  the  judges,  by  declaring  that  their 
salary  shall  not  be  altered"  The  provision  of  the  cpnstitution  is,  that 
they  shall,  "at  stated  times,  receive  for  their  services  a  compensation 
which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office." — 
American  Editor. ~\ 

The  practical  consequences  of  these  different  systems  may 
easily  be  perceived.  An  attentive  observer  will  soon  remark 
that  the  business  of  the  Union  is  incomparably  better  con 
ducted  than  that  of  any  individual  state.  The  conduct  of 
the  federal  government  is  more  fair  and  more  temperate  than 
that  of  the  states ;  its  designs  are  more  fraught  with  wisdom, 
its  projects  are  more  durable  and  more  skilfully  combined, 
its  measures  are  put  into  execution  with  more  vigor  and  con 
sistency. 

I  recapitulate  the  substance  of  this  chapter  in  a  few 
words : — 

The  existence  of  democracies  is  threatened  by  two  dangeis, 


THE    FEDERAL   CONSTITUTION.  155 

viz. :  the  complete  subjection  of  the  legislative  body  to  the 
caprices  of  the  electoral  body  ;  and  the  concentration  of  all 
the  powers  of  the  government  in  the  legislative  authority. 

The  growth  of  these  evils  has  been  encouraged  by  the 
policy  of  the  legislators  of  the  states ;  but  it  has  been  resisted 
by  the  legislators  of  the  Union  by  every  means  which  lay 
within  their  control. 


CHARACTERISTICS  WHICH  DISTINGUISH  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITU 
TION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA  FROM  ALL  OTHER 
FEDERAL  CONSTITUTIONS. 

American  Union  appears  to  resemble  all  other  Confederations. — Never 
theless  its  Effects  are  different. — Reason  of  this  — Distinctions  be 
tween  the  Union  and  all  other  Confederations. — The  American  Gov 
ernment  not  a  Federal,  but  an  imperfect  National  Government. 

THE  United  States  of  America  do  not  afford  either  the  first  or 
the  only  instance  of  confederate  states,  several  of  which  have 
existed  in  modern  Europe,  without  adverting  to  those  of  anti 
quity.  Switzerland,  the  Germanic  empire,  and  the  republic 
of  the  United  Provinces,  either  have  been  or  still  are  confede 
rations.  In  studying  the  constitutions  of  these  different  coun 
tries,  the  politician  is  surprised  to  observe  that  the  powers 
with  which  they  invested  the  federal  government  are  nearly 
identical  with  the  privileges  awarded  by  the  American  con 
stitution  to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  They  con 
fer  upon  the  central  power  the  same  rights  of  making  peace 
and  war,  of  raising  money  and  troops,  and  of  providing  for 
the  general  exigencies  and  the  common  interests  of  the  nation. 
Nevertheless  the  federal  government  of  these  different  people 
has  always  been  as  remarkable  for  its  weakness  and  ineffi 
ciency  as  that  of  the  Union  is  for  its  vigorous  and  enterprising 
spirit.  Again,  the  first  American  confederation  perished 
through  the  excessive  weakness  of  its  government ;  and  this 
weak  government  was,  notwithstanding,  in  possession  of  rights 
even  more  extensive  than  those  of  the  federal  government  of 
the  present  day.  But  the  more  recent  constitution  of  the 
United  States  contains  certain  principles  which  exercise  a 
most  important  influence,  although  they  do  not  at  once  strike 
the  observer. 

This  constitution,  which  may  at  first  sight  be  confounded 
with  the  federal  constitutions  which  preceded  it,  rests  upon  a 
novel  theory,  which  may  be  considered  as  a  great  invention 


156  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

in  modern  political  science.  In  all  the  confederations  which 
had  been  formed  before  the  American  constitution  of  1789, 
the  allied  states  agreed  to  obey  the  injunctions  of  a  federal 
government :  but  they  reserved  to  themselves  the  right  of  or 
daining  and  enforcing  the-  execution  of  the  laws  of  the 
Union.  The  American  states  which  combined  in  1789 
agreed  that  the  federal  government  should  not  only  dictate 
the  laws,  but  it  should  execute  its  own  enactments.  In  both 
cases  the  right  is  the  same,  but  the  exercise  of  the  right  is 
different ;  and  this  alteration  produced  the  most  momentous 
consequences. 

In  all»  the  confederations  which  have  been  formed  before 
the  American  Union,  the  federal  government  demanded  its 
supplies  at  the  hands  of  the  separate  governments  ;  and  if  the 
measure  it  prescribed  was  onerous  to  any  one  of  those  bodies, 
means  were  found  to  evade  its  claims  :  if  the  state  was  power 
ful,  it  had  recourse  to  arms ;  if  it  was  weak,  it  connived  at 
the  resistance  which  'the  law  of  the  Union,  its  sovereign,  met 
with,  and  resorted  to  inaction  under  the  plea  of  inability. 
Under  these  circumstances  one  of  two  alternatives  has  inva 
riably  occurred  :  either  the  most  preponderant  of  the  allied 
peoples  has  assumed  the  privileges  of  the  federal  authority, 
and  ruled  all  the  other  states  in  its  name,*  or  the  federal  gov 
ernment  has  been  abandoned  by  its  natural  supporters,  anar 
chy  has  arisen  between  the  confederates,  and  the  Union  has 
lost  all  power  of  action. f 

In  America  the  subjects  of  the  Union  are  not  states,  but 
private  citizens  :  the  national  government  levies  a  tax,  not 
upon  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  but  upon  each  inhabitant  of 
Massachusetts.  All  former  confederate  governments  presided 
over  communities,  but  that  of  the  Union  rules  individuals  ;  its 
force  is  not  borrowed,  but  self-derived  ;  and  it  is  served  by  its 
own  civil  and  military  officers,  by  its  own  army,  and  its  own 
courts  of  justice.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  spirit  of  the 
nation,  the  passions  of  the  multitude,  and  the  provincial  pre 
judices  of  each  state,  tend  singularly  to  diminish  the  author 
ity  of  a  federal  authority  thus  constituted,  and  to  facilitate 
the  means  of  resistance  to  its  mandates ;  but  the  comparative 

*  This  was  the  case  in  Greece,  when  Philip  undertook  to  execute 
the  decree  of  the  Amphictyons ;  in  the  Low  Countries,  where  the 
province  of  Holland  always  gave  the  law ;  and  in  our  time  in  the  Ger 
manic  confederation,  in  which  Austria  and  Prussia  assume  a  great  de 
gree  of  influence  over  the  whole  country,  in  the  name  of  the  Diet. 

f  Such  has  always  been  the  situation  of  the  Swiss  confederation, 
which  would  have  perished  ages  ago  but  for  the  mutual  jealousies  of 
its  neighbors. 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  157 

weakness  of  a  restricted  sovereignty  is  an  evil  inherent  in 
the  federal  system.  In  America,  each  state  has  fewer  oppor 
tunities  of  resistance,  and  fewer  temptations  to  non-compli 
ance  ;  nor  can  such  a  design  be  put  in  execution  (if  indeed 
it  be  entertained),  without  an  open  violation  of  the  laws  of 
the  Union,  a  direct  interruption  of  the  ordinary  course  of 
justice,  and  a  bold  declaration  of  revolt ;  in  a  word,  without 
a  decisive  step,  which  men  hesitate  to  adopt. 

In  all  former  confederations,  the  privileges  of  the  Union 
furnished  more  elements  of  discord  than  of  power,  since  they 
multiplied  the  claims  of  the  nation  without  augmenting  the 
means  of  enforcing  them  :  and  in  accordance  with  this  fact  it 
may  be  remarked,  that  the  real  weakness  of  federal  govern 
ments  has  almost  always  been  in  the  exact  ratio  of  their  nomi 
nal  power.  Such  is  not  the  case  with  the  American  Union, 
in  which,  as  in  ordinary  governments,  the  federal  government 
has  the  means  of  enforcing  all  it  is  empowered  to  demand. 

The  human  understanding  more  easily  invents  new  things 
than  new  words,  and  we  arc  thence  constrained  to  employ  a 
multitude  of  improper  and  inadequate  expressions.  When 
several  nations  form  a  permanent  league,  and  establish'  a 
supreme  authority,  which,  although  it  has  not  the  same  influ 
ence  over  the  members  of  the  community  as  a  national  gov 
ernment,  acts  upon  each  of  the  confederate  states  in  a  body, 
this  government,  which  is  so  essentially  different  from  all 
others,  is  denominated  a  federal  one.  Another  form  of  so 
ciety  is  afterward  discovered,  in  which  several  peoples  are 
fused  into  one  and  the  same  nation  with  regard  to  certain 
common  interests,  although  they  remain  distinct,  or  at  least 
only  confederate,  with  regard  to  all  their  other  concerns.  In 
this  case  the  central  power  acts  directly  upon  those  whom  it 
governs,  whom  it  rules,  and  whom  it  judges,  in  the  same 
manner  as,  but  in  a  more  limited  circle  than,  a  national  gov- 
vernment.  Here  the  term  of  federal  government  is  clearly 
no  longer  applicable  to  a  state  of  things  which  must  be  styled 
an  incomplete  national  government :  a  form  of  government 
has  been  found  out  which  is  neither  exactly  national  nor  fede 
ral  ;  but  no  farther  progress  has  been  made,  and  the  new  word 
which  will  one  day  designate  this  novel  invention  does  not 
yet  exist. 

The  absence  of  this  new  species  of  confederation  has  been 
the  cause  which  has  brought  all  unions  to  civil  war,  to  sub 
jection,  or  to  a  stagnant  apathy  ;  and  the  peoples  which  form 
ed  these  leagues  have  been  either  too  dull  to  discern,  or  too 


158  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION. 

pusillanimous  to  apply  this  great  remedy.  The  American 
confederation  perished  by  the  same  defects. 

But  the  confederate  states  of  America  had  been  long 
accustomed  to  form  a  portion  of  one  empire  before  they  had 
won  their  independence  :  they  had  not  contracted  the  habit 
of  governing  themselves,  and  their  national  prejudices  had 
not  taken  deep  root  in  their  minds.  Superior  to  the  rest  of 
the  world  in  political  knowledge,  and  sharing  that  knowledge 
equally  among  themselves,  they  were  little  agitated  by  the 
passions  which  generally  oppose  the  extension  of  federal 
authority  in  a  nation,  and  those  passions  were  checked  by  the 
wisdom*  of  the  chief  citizens. 

The  Americans  applied  the  remedy  with  prudent  firmness 
as  soon  as  they  were  conscious  of  the  evil ;  they  amended 
their  laws,  and  they  saved  their  country. 


ADVANTAGES    OF    THE    FEDERAL    SYSTEM    IN    GENERAL,  AND    ITS 
SPECIAL   UTILITY    IN    AMERICA. 

Happiness  and  Freedom  of  small  Nations. — Power  of  Great  Nations. — 
Great  Empires  favorable  to  the  Growth  of  Civilisation. — Strength 
often  the  first  Element  of  national  Prosperity. — Aim  of  the  federal 
System  to  unite  the  twofold  Advantages  resulting  from  a  small  and 
from  a  large  Territory. — Advantages  derived  by  the  United  States 
from  this  System. — The  Law  adapts  itself  to  the  Exigencies  of  the 
Population ;  Population  does  not  conform  to  the  Exigencies  of  the 
Law. — Activity,  Melioration,  Love,  and  Enjoyment  of  Freedom  in 
the  American  Communities. — Public  Spirit  of  the  Union  the  abstract 
of  provincial  Patriotism. — Principles  and  Things  circulate  freely 
over  the  Territory  of  the  United  States. — The  Union  is  happy  and 
free  as  a  little  Nation,  and  respected  as  a  great  Empire. 

IN  small  nations  the  scrutiny  of  society  penetrates  into  every 
part,  and  the  spirit  of  improvement  enters  into  the  most  trifling 
details ;  as  the  ambition  of  the  people  is  necessarily  checked 
by  its  weakness,  all  the  efforts  and  resources  of  the  citizens 
are  turned  to  the  internal  benefit  of  the  community,  and  are 
not  likely  to  evaporate  in  the  fleeting  breath  of  glory.  The 
desires  of  every  individual  are  limited,  because  extraordinary 
faculties  are  rarely  to  be  met  with.  The  gifts  of  an  equal 
fortune  render  the  various  conditions  of  life  uniform  ;  and 
the  manners  of  the  inhabitants  are  orderly  and  simple. 
Thus,  if  we  estimate  the  gradations  of  popular  morality  and 
enlightenment,  we  shall  generally  find  that  in  small  nations 
there  are  more  persons  in  easy  circumstances,  a  more  nu- 


THL    FEDfc^L    CONSTITUTION.  159 


merous  population,  and  a  more  tranquil  state  of  society  than 
in  great  empires. 

When  tyranny  is  established  in  the  bosom  of  a  small 
nation,  it  is  more  galling  than  elsewhere,  because,  as  it  acts 
within  a  narrow  circle,  every  point  of  that  circle  is  subject 
to  its  direct  influence.  It  supplies  the  place  of  those  great 
designs  which  it  cannot  entertain,  by  a  violent  or  an  exaspe 
rating  interference  in  a  multitude  of  minute  details  ;  and  it 
leaves  the  political  world  to  which  it  properly  belongs,  to 
meddle  with  the  arrangements  of  domestic  life.  Tastes  as 
well  as  actions  are  to  be  regulated  at  its  pleasure  ;  and  the 
families  of  the  citizens  as  well  as  the  affairs  of  the  state  are 
to  be  governed  by  its  decisions.  This  invasion  of  rights 
occurs,  however,  but  seldom,  and  freedom  is  in  truth  the 
natural  state  of  small  communities.  The  temptations  which 
the  government  oilers  to  ambition  are  too  weak,  and  the  re 
sources  of  private  individuals  are  too  slender,  for  the  sove 
reign  power  easily  to  fall  within  the  grasp  of  a  single  citizen  : 
and  should  such  an  event  have  occurred,  the  subjects  of  the 
state  can  without  difficulty  overthrow  the  tyrant  and  his 
oppression  by  a  simultaneous  effort. 

.  Small  nations  have  therefore  ever  been  the  cradles  of  poli 
tical  liberty  :  and  the  fact  that  many  of  them  have  lost  their 
immunities  by  extending  their  dominion,  shows  that  the  free 
dom  they  enjoyed  was  more  a  consequence  of  their  inferior 
size  than  of  the  character  of  the  people. 

The  history  of  the  world  affords  no  instance  of  a  great 
nation  retaining  the  form  of  a  republican  government  for  a 
long  series  of  years,*  and  this  had  led  to  the  conclusion  that  , 
such  a  state  of  things  is  impracticable.  For  my  own  part, 
1  cannot  hut  censure  the  imprudence  of  attempting  to  limit 
'Jie  possible,  and  to  judge  the  future,  on  the  part  of  a  being 
who  is  hourly  deceived  by  the  most  palpable  realities  of  life, 
and  who  is  constantly  taken  by  surprise  in  the  circumstances 
with  which  he  is  most  familiar.  But  it  may  be  advanced 
with  confidence  that  the  existence  of  a  great  republic  will 
always  be  exposed  to  far  greater  perils  than  that  of  a  small 
one. 

All  the  passions  which  are  most  fatal  to  republican  institu 
tions  spread  with  an  increasing  territory,  while  the  virtues     \ 
which  maintain  their  dignity  do  not  augment  in  the  same 
proportion.     The  ambition  of  the  citizens  increases  with  the      j 

*  I  do  not  speak  of  a  confederation  of  small  republics,  but,  of  a  great 
consolidated  republic. 


160  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

power  of  the  state  ;  the  strength  of  parties,  with  the  import 
ance  of  the  ends  they  have  in  view  ;  but  that  devotion  to  the 
common  weal,  which  is  the  surest  check  on  destructive  pas 
sions,  is  not  stronger  in  a  large  than  in  a  small  republic.  It 
might,  indeed,  be  proved  without  difficulty  that  it  is  less  pow 
erful  and  less  sincere.  The  arrogance  of  wealth  and  the 
dejection  of  wretchedness,  capital  cities  of  unwonted  extent, 
a  lax  morality,  a  vulgar  egotism,  and  a  great  confusion  of 
interests,  are  the  dangers  which  almost  invariably  arise  from 
the  magnitude  of  states.  But  several  of  these  evils  are 
scarcely  prejudicial  to  a  monarchy,  and  some  of  them  con 
tribute  »to  maintain  its  existence.  In  monarchical  states  the 
strength  of  the  government  is  its  own ;  it  may  use,  but  it 
does  not  depend  on,  the  community  :  and  the  authority  of  the 
prince  is  proportioned  to  the  prosperity  of  the  nation  :  but 
the  only  security  which  a  republican  government  possesses 
against  these  evils  lies  in  the  support  of  the  majority.  This 
support  is  not,  however,  proportionably  greater  in  a  large 
'epublic  than  it  is  in  a  small  one  ;  and  thus  while  the  means 
)f  attack  perpetually  increase  both  in  number  and  in  influ- 
3nce,  the  power  of  resistance  remains  the  same  ;  or  it  may 
rather  be  said  to  diminish,  since  the  propensities  and  interests 
of  the  people  are  diversified  by  the  increase  of  the  popula 
tion,  and  the  difficulty  of  forming  a  compact  majority  is  con 
stantly  augmented.  It  has  been  observed,  moreover,  that  the 
intensity  of  human  passions  is  heightened,  not  only  by  the 
importance  of  the  end  which  they  propose  to  attain,  but  by 
the  multitude  of  individuals  who  are  animated  by  them  at 
the  same  time.  Every  one  has  had  occasion  to  remark  that 
his  emotions  in  the  midst  of  a  sympathizing  crowd  are  far 
greater  than  those  which  he  would  have  felt  in  solitude.  In 
great  republics  the  impetus  of  political  passion  is  irresistible, 
not  only  because  it  aims  at  gigantic  purposes,  but  because  it 
is  felt  and  shared  by  millions  of  men  at  the  same  time. 

It  may  therefore  be  asserted  as  a  general  proposition,  that 
nothing  is  more  opposed  to  the  well-being  and  the  freedom  of 
man  than  vast  empires.  Nevertheless  it  is  important  to  ac 
knowledge  the  peculiar  advantages  of  great  states.  For  the 
very  reason  which  renders  the  desire  of  power  more  intense 
in  these  communities  than  among  ordinary  men,  the  love  of 
glory  is  also  more  prominent  in  the  hearts  of  a  class  of  citizens, 
who  regard  the  applause  of  a  great  people  as  a  reward  worthy 
of  their  exertions,  and  an  elevating  encouragement  to  man. 
If  we  would  learn  why  it  is  that  great  nations  contribute 
more  powerfully  to  the  spread  of  human  improvement  than 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  161 

small  states,  we  shall  discover  an  adequate  cause  in  the-  rapid 
and  energetic  circulation  of  ideas,  and  in  those  great  cities 
which  are  the  intellectual  centres  where  ail  the  rays  of 
human  genius  are  reflected  and  combined.  To  this  it  may 
be  added  that  most  important  discoveries  demand  a  display 
of  national  power  which  the  government  of  a  small  state  is 
unable  to  make  ;  in  great  nations  the  government  entertains 
a  greater  number  of  general  notions,  and  is  more  completely 
disengaged  from  the  routine  of  precedent  and  the  egotism  of 
local  prejudice  ;  its  designs  are  conceived  with  more  talent, 
and  executed  with  more  boldness. 

In  time  of  peace  the  well-being  of  small  nations  is  undoubt 
edly  more  general  and  more  complete  ;  but  they  are  apt  to 
suffer  more  acutely  from  the  calamities  of  war  than  those 
great  empires  whose  distant  frontiers  may  for  ages  avert  the 
presence  of  the  danger  from  the  mass  of  the  people,  which  is 
more  frequently  afflicted  than  ruined  by  the  evil. 

But  in  this  matter,  as  in  many  others,  the  argument  derived 
from  the  necessity  of  the  case  predominates  over  all  others. 
If  none  but  small  nations  existed,  I  do  not  doubt  that  mankind 
would  be  more  happy  and  more  free  ;  but  the  existence  of 
great  nations  is  unavoidable. 

This  consideration  introduces  the  element  of  physical 
strength  as  a  condition  of  national  prosperity. 

It  profits  a  people  but  little  to  be  affluent  and  free,  if  it  is 
perpetually  exposed  to  be  pillaged  or  subjugated  ;  the  number 
of  its  manufactures  and  the  extent  of  its  commerce  are  of  small 
advantage,  if  another  nation  has  the  empire  of  the  seas  and 
gives  the  law  in  all  the  markets  of  the  globe.  Small  nations 
are  often  impoverished,  not  because  they  are  small,  but 
because  they  are  weak  ;  and  great  empires  prosper  less 
because  they  are  great  than  because  they  are  strong.  Physi 
cal  strength  is  therefore  one  of  the  first  conditions  of  the 
happiness  and  even  of  the  existence  of  nations.  Hence  it 
occurs,  that  unless  very  peculiar  circumstances  intervene, 
small  nations  are  always  united  to  large  empires  in  the  end, 
either  by  force  or  by  their  own  consent;  yet  I  am  unacquainted 
with  a  more  deplorable  spectacle  than  that  of  a  people  unable 
either  to  defend  or  to  maintain  its  independence. 

The  federal  system  was  created  with  the  intention  of  com 
bining  the  different  advantages  which  result  from  the  greater 
and  the  lesser  extent  of  nations  ;  and  a  single  glance  over 
the  United  States  of  America  suffices  to  discover  the  advan 
tages  which  they  have  derived  from  its  adoption. 

In  great  centralized  nations  the  legislator  is  obliged  to  im- 
11 


162  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

part  a  character  of  uniformity  to  the  laws,  which  does  not 
always  suit  the  diversity  of  customs  and  of  districts  ;  as  he 
takes  no  cognizance  of  special  cases,  he  can  only  proceed 
upon  general  principles  ;  and  the  population  is  obliged  to 
conform  to  the  exigencies  of  the  legislation,  since  the  legis 
lation  cannot  adapt  itself  to  the  exigencies  and  customs  of 
the  population  ;  which  is  the  cause  of  endless  trouble  and 
misery.  This  disadvantage  does  not  exist  in  confederations ; 
congress  regulates  the  principal  measures  of  the  national 
government,  and  all  the  details  of  the  administration  are  re 
served  to  the  provincial  legislatures.  It  is  impossible  to 
imagine*  how  much  this  division  of  sovereignty  contributes  to 
the  well-being  of  each  of  the  states  which  compose  the 
Union.  In  these  small  communities,  which  are  never  agi 
tated  by  the  desire  of  aggrandizement  or  the  cares  of  self- 
defence,  all  public  authority  and  private  energy  is  employed 
in  internal  melioration.  The  central  government  of  each 
state,  which  is  in  immediate  juxtaposition  to  the  citizens,  is 
daily  apprised  of  the  wants  which  arise  in  society  ;  and  new 
projects  are  proposed  every  year,  which  are  discussed  either 
at  town-meetings  or  by  the  legislature  of  the  state,  and  which 
are  transmitted  by  the  press  to  stimulate  the  zeal  and  to  ex 
cite  the  interest  of  the  citizens.  This  spirit  of  melioration  is 
constantly  alive  in  the  American  republics,  without  com 
promising  their  tranquillity  ;  the  ambition  of  power  yields  to 
the  less  refined  and  less  dangerous  love  of  comfort.  It  is 
generally  believed  in  America  that  the  existence  and  the 
permanence  of  the  republican  form  of  government  in  the 
New  World  depend  upon  the  existence  and  the  permanence 
of  the  federal  system  ;  and  it  is  not  unusual  to  attribute  a 
large  share  of  the  misfortunes  which  have  befallen  the  new 
states  of  South  America  to  the  injudicious  erection  of  great 
republics,  instead  of  a  divided  and  confederate  sovereignty. 

It  is  incontestably  true  that  the  love  and  the  habits  of  re- 
publican  government  in  the  United  States  were  engendered 
in  the  townships  and  in  the  provincial  assemblies.  In  a  small 
state,  .like  that  of  Connecticut  for  instance,  where  cutting  a 
canal  or  laying  down  a  road  is  a  momentous  political  qaes- 
tion,  where  the  state  has  no  army  to  pay  and  no  wars  to 
carry  on,  and  where  much  wealth  and  much  honor  cannot 
be  bestowed  upon  the  chief  citizens,  no  form  of  government 
can  be  more  natural  or  more  appropriate  than  that  of  a  re 
public.  But  it  is  this  same  republican  spirit,  it  is  these  man 
ners  and  customs  of  a  free  people,  which  are  engendered  and 
nurtured  in  the  different  states,  to  be  afterward  applied  to  the 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  163 

country  at  large.  The  public  spirit  of  the  Union  is,  so  to  I 
speak,  nothing  more  than  an  abstract  of  the  patriotic  zeal  of  f 
the  provinces.  Every  citizen  of  the  United  States  transfu 
ses  his  attachment  10  his  little  republic  into  the  common  store 
of  American  patriotism.  In  defending  the  Union,  he  defends 
the  increasing  prosperity  of  his  own  district,  the  right  of 
conducting  its  affairs,  and  the  hope  of  causing  measures  of 
improvement  to  be  adopted  which  may  be  favorable  to  his 
own  interests  ;  and  these  are  motives  which  are  wont  to  stir 
men  more  readily  than  the  general  interests  of  the  country 
and  the  glory  of  the  nation. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  temper  and  the  manners  of  the 
inhabitants  especially  fitted  them  to  promote  the  welfare  of  a 
great  republic,  the  -federal  system  smoothed  the  obstacles 
which  they  might  have  encountered.  The  confederation  of 
all  the  American  states  presents  none  of  the  ordinary  disad 
vantages  resulting  from  great  agglomerations  of  men.  The 
Union  is  a  great  republic  in  extent,  but  the  paucity  of  objects 
for  which  its  government  provides  assimilates  it  to  a  small 
state.  Its  acts  are  important,  but  they  are  rare.  As  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Union  is  limited  and  incomplete,  its  exer 
cise  is  not  incompatible  with  liberty  ;  for  it  does  not  excite 
those  insatiable  desires  of  fame  and  power  which  have  proved 
so  fatal  to  great  republics.  As  there  is  no  common  centre  to 
the  country,  vast  capital  cities,  colossal  wealth,  abject  pov 
erty,  and  sudden  revolutions  are  alike  unknown  ;  and  political 
passion,  instead  of  spreading  over  the  land  like  a  torrent  of 
desolation,  spends  its  strength  against  the  interests  and  the 
individual  passions  of  every  state. 

Nevertheless,  all  commodities  and  ideas  circulate  through 
out  the  Union  as  freely  as  in  a  country  inhabited  by  one 
people.  Nothing  checks  the  spirit  of  enterprise.  The  go 
vernment  avails  itself  of  the  assistance  of  all  who  have  tal 
ents  or  knowledge  to  serve  it.  Within  the  frontiers  of  the 
Union  the  profoundest  peace  prevails,  as  within  the  heart  of 
some  great  empire  ;  abroad,  it  ranks  with  the  most  powerful 
nations  of  the  earth  :  two  thousand  miles  of  coast  are  open 
to  the  commerce  of  the  world ;  and  as  it  possesses  the  keys 
of  the  globe,  its  flag  is  respected  in  the  most  remote  seas. 
The  Union  is  as  happy  and  as  free  as  a  small  people,  and  as 
glorious  and  as  strong  as  a  great  nation. 


164  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 


WHY  THE  FEDERAL  SYSTEM  IS  NOT  ADAPTED  TO  ALL  PEOPLES, 
AND  HOW  THE  ANGLO-AMERICANS  WERE  ENABLED  TO 
ADOPT  IT. 

Every  federal  System  contains  defects  which  baffle  the  efforts  of  the 
Legislator. — The  federal  System  is  complex. — It  demands  a  daily 
Exercise  of  Discretion  on  the  Part  of  the  Citizens. — Practical  know 
ledge  of  the  Government  common  among  the  Americans. — Relative 
weakness  of  the  Government  of  the  Union  another  defect  inherent 
in  the  federal  System. — The  Americans  have  diminished  without 
remedying  it. — The  Sovereignty  of  the  separate  States  apparently 
weaker,  but  really  stronger,  than  that  of  the  Union. — Why.— Natural 
causes  of  Union  must  exist  between  confederate  Peoples  beside  the 
Laws. — What  these  Causes  are  among  the  Anglo-Americans. — 
Maine  and  Georgia,  separated  by  a  Distance  of  a  thousand  Miles, 
more  naturally  united  than  Normandy  and  Britany. — War,  the  main 
Peril  of  Confederations. — This  proved  even  by  the  Example  of  the 
•United  States. — The  Union  has  no  great  Wars  to  fear. — Why. — 
Dangers  to  which  Europeans  would  be  exposed  if  they  adopted  the 
federal  System  of  the  Americans. 

WHEN  a  legislator  succeeds,  after  persevering  efforts,  in  ex 
ercising  an  indirect  influence  upon  the  destiny  of  nations,  his 
genius  is  lauded  by  mankind,  while  in  point  of  fact,  the 
geographical  position  of  the  country  which  he  is  unable  to 
change,  a  social  condition  which  arose  without  his  co-opera 
tion,  manners  and  opinions  which  he  cannot  trace  to  their 
source,  and  an  origin  with  which  he  is  unacquainted,  exercise 
so  irresistible  an  influence  over  the  courses  of  society,  that  he 
is  himself  borne  away  by  the  current,  after  an  ineffectual  re 
sistance.  Like  the  navigator,  he  may  direct  the  vessel  which 
bears  him  along,  but  he  can  neither  change  its  structure,  nor 
raise  the  winds,  nor  lullthe  waters  which  swell  beneath  him. 

I  have  shown  the  advantages  which  the  Americans  derive 
from  their  federal  system  ;  it  remains  for  me  to  point  out  the 
circumstances  which  render  that  system  practicable,  as  its 
benefits  are  not  to  be  enjoyed  by  all  nations.  The  incidental 
defects  of  the  federal  system  which  originate  in  the  laws  may 
be  corrected  by  the  skill  of  the  legislator,  but  there  are  far 
ther  evils  inherent  in  the  system  which  cannot  be  counteracted 
by  the  peoples  which  adopt  it.  These  nations  must  therefore 
find  the  strength  necessary  to  support  the  natural  imperfec 
tions  of  the  government. 

The  most  prominent  evil  of  all  federal  systems  is  the  very 
complex  nature  of  the  means  they  employ.  Two  sovereign- 
tics  are  necessarily  in  the  presence  of  each  other.  The 
legislator  may  simplify  and  equalize  the  action  of  these  two 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  165 

sovereignties,  by  limiting  each  of  them  to  a  sphere  of  authority 
accurately  defined  ;  but  he  cannot  combine  them  into  one,  or 
prevent  them  from  running  into  collision  at  certain  points. 
The  federal  system  therefore  rests  upon  a  theory  which  is 
necessarily  complicated,  and  which  demands  the  daily  exer 
cise  of  a  considerable  share  of  discretion  on  the  part  of  those 
it  governs. 

A  proposition  must  be  plain  to  be  adopted  by  the  under 
standing  of  a  people.  A  false  notion,  which  is  clear  and  pre 
cise,  will  always  meet  with  a  greater  number  of  adherents  in 
the  world  than  a  true  principle  which  is  obscure  or  involved. 
Hence  it  arises  that  parties,  which  are  like  small  communi 
ties  in  the  heart  of  the  nation,  invariably  adopt  some  princi 
ple  or  some  name  as  a  symbol,  which  very  inadequately 
represents  the  end  they  have  in  view,  and  the  means  which 
are  at  their  disposal,  but  without  which  they  could  neither 
act  nor  subsist.  The  governments  which  are  founded  upon  a 
single  principle  or  a  single  feeling  which  is  easily  defined, 
are  perhaps  not  the  best,  but  they  are  unquestionably  the 
strongest  and  the  most  durable  in  the  world. 

In  examining  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  is 
the  most  perfect  federal  constitution  that  ever  existed,  one  is 
startled,  on  the  other  hand,  at  the  variety  of  information  and 
the  excellence  of  discretion  which  it  presupposes  in  the  people 
whom  it  is  meant  to  govern.  The  government  of  the  Union 
depends  entirely  upon  legal  fictions ;  the  Union  is  an  ideal 
notion  which  only  exists  in  the  mind,  and  whose  limits  and 
extent  can  only  be  discerned  by  the  understanding. 

When  once  the  general  theory  is  comprehended,  nume 
rous  difficulties  remain  to  be  solved  in  its  application  ;  for 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Union  is  so  involved  in  that  of  the 
states,  that  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  its  boundaries  at  the 
first  glance.  The  whole  structure  of  the  government  is  arti 
ficial  and  conventional  ;  and  it  would  be  ill-adapted  to  a  peo 
ple  which  has  not  long  been  accustomed  to  conduct  its  own 
affairs,  or  to  one  in  which  the  science  of  politics  has  not  de 
scended  to  the  humblest  classes  of  society.  I  have  never  been 
more  struck  by  the  good  sense  and  the  practical  judgment  of 
the  Americans  than  in  the  ingenious  devices  by  which  they 
elude  the  numberless  difficulties  resulting  from  their  federal 
constitution.  I  scarcely  ever  met  with  a  plain  American 
citizen  who  could  riot  distinguish,  with  surprising  facility,  the 
obligations  created  by  the  laws  of  congress  from  those  creat 
ed  by  the  laws  of  his  own  state  ;  and  who,  after  having 
discriminated  between  the  matters  which  come  under  the  cog- 


16(5  THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

nizance  of  the  Union,  and  those  which  the  local  legislature  is 
competent  to  regulate,  could  not  point  out  the  exact  limit  ot 
the  several  jurisdictions  of  the  federal  courts  and  the  tribu 
nals  of  the  state. 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States  is  like  those  exqui 
site  productions  of  human  industry  which  ensure  wealth  and 
renown  to  their  inventors,  but  which  are  profitless  in  any 
other  hands.  This  truth  is  exemplified  by  the  condition  of 
Mexico  at  the  present  time.  The  Mexicans  were  desirous  of 
establishing  a  federal  system,  and  they  took  the  federal  con 
stitution  of_  their  neighbors  the  Anglo- Americans  >as  their 
model,  and  copied  it  with  considerable  accuracy.*  But  al 
though  they  had  borrowed  the  letter  of  the  law,  they  were 
unable  to  create  or  to  introduce  the  spirit  and  the  sense  which 
gave  it  life.  They  were  involved  in  ceaseless  embarrass 
ments  between  the  mechanism  of  their  double  government ; 
the  sovereignty  of  the  states  and  that  of  the  Union  perpetu 
ally  exceeded  their  respective  privileges,  and  entered  into 
collision  ;  and  to  the  present  day  Mexico  is  alternately  the 
victim  of  anarchy  and  the  slave  of  military  despotism. 

The  second  and  the  most  fatal  of  all  the  defects  I  have 
alluded  to,  and  that  which  I  believe  to  be  inherent  in  the 
federal  system,  is  the  relative  weakness  of  the  government  of 
the  Union.  The  principle  upon  which  all  confederations 
rest  is  that  of  a  divided  sovereignty.  The  legislator  may 
render  this  partition  less  perceptible,  he  may  even  conceal  it 
for  a  time  from  the  public  eye,  but  he  cannot  prevent  it  from 
existing  ;  and  a  divided  sovereignty  must  always  be  less 
powerful  than  an  entire  supremacy.  The  reader  has  seen 
in  the  remarks  I  have  made  on  the  constitution  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  that  the  Americans  have  displayed  singular  inge 
nuity  in  combining  the  restriction  of  the  power  of  the  Union 
within  the  narrow  limits  of  the  federal  government,  with  the 
semblance,  and  to  a  certain  extent  with  the  force  of  a  na 
tional  government.  By  this  means  the  legislators  of  the 
Union  have  succeeded  in  diminishing,  though  not  in  counter 
acting,  the  natural  danger  of  confederations. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  the  American  government  does 
not  apply  itself  to  the  states,  but  that  it  immediately  trans 
mits  its  injunctions  to  the  citizens,  and  compels  them  as  iso 
lated  individuals  to  comply  with  its  demands.  But  if  the 
federal  law  were  to  clash  with  the  interests  and  prejudices 
of  a  state,  it  might  be  feared  that  all  the  citizens  of  that 

*  See  the  Mexican  constitution  of  1824 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  167 

state  would  conceive  themselves  to  be  interested  in  the 
cause  of  a  single  individual  who  should  refuse  to  obey.  If 
all  the  citizens  of  the  state  were  aggrieved  at  the  same  time 
and  in  the  same  manner  by  the  authority  of  the  Union,  the 
federal  government  would  vainly  attempt  to  subdue  them 
individually  ;  they  would  instinctively  unite  in  the  common 
defence,  and  they  would  derive  a  ready-prepared  organiza 
tion  from  the  share  of  sovereignty  which  the  institution  of 
their  state  allows  them  to  enjoy.  Fiction  would  give  way  to 
reality,  and  an  organized  portion  of  the  territory  might  then 
contest  the  central  authority. 

The  same  observation  holds  good  with  regard  to  the  federal 
jurisdiction.  If  the  courts  of  the  Union  violated  an  impor 
tant  law  of  a  state  in  a  private  case,  the  real,  if  not  the  appa 
rent  contest  would  arise  between  the  aggrieved  state,  repre 
sented  by  a  citizen,  and  the  Union,  represented  by  its  courts 
of  justice.* 


*  For  instance,  the  Union  possesses  by  the  constitution  the  right  of 
selling  unoccupied  lands  for  its  own  profit.  Supposing  that  the  state 
of  Ohio  should  claim  the  same  right  in  behalf  of  certain  territories  ly 
ing  within  its  boundaries,  upon  the  plea  that  the  constitution  refers  to 
those  lands  alone  which  do  not  belong  to  the  jurisdiction  of  any  par 
ticular  state,  and  consequently  should  choose  to  dispose  of  them  itself, 
the  litigation  would  be  carried  on  in  the  name  of  the  purchasers  from 
the  state  of  Ohio,  and  the  purchasers  from  the  Union,  and  not  in  the 
names  of  Ohio  and  the  Union.  But  what  would  become  of  this  legal 
fiction  if  the  federal  purchaser  was  confirmed  in  his  right  by  the  courts 
of  the  Union,  while  the  other  competitor  was  ordered  to  retain  posses 
sion  by  the  tribunals  of  the  state  of  Ohio? 

[The  difficulty  supposed  by  the  author  in  this  note  is  imaginary. 
The  question  of  title  to  the  lands  in  the  case  put,  must  depend  upon 
the  constitution,  treaties,  and  laws  of  the  United  States;  and  a  deci 
sion  in  the  state  court  adverse  to  the  claim  or  title  set  up  under  those 
laws,  must,  by  the  very  words  of  the  constitution  and  of  the  judiciary 
act,  be  subject  to  review  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States, 
whose  decision  is  final. 

The  remarks  in  the  text  of  this  page  upon  the  relative  weakness  of 
the  government  of  the  Union,  are  equally  appli  -able  to  any  form  of 
republican  or  democratic  government,  and  are  not  peculiar  to  a  fede 
ral  system.  Under  the  circumstances  supposed  by  the  author,  of  all 
the  citizens  of  a  state,  or  a  large  majority  of  them,  aggrieved  at  the 
same  time  and  in  the  sime  manner,  by  the  operation  of  any  law, 
the  same  difficulty  would  arise  in  executing  the  laws  of  the  state  as 
those  of  the  Union.  Indeed,  such  instances  of  the  total  inefficacy 
of  state  laws  are  not  wanting.  The  fact  is,  that  all  republics  de 
pend  on  the  willingness  of  the  people  to  execute  the  laws.  If  they 
will  not  enforce  them,  there  is,  so  far,  an  end  to  the  government, 
for  it  possesses  no  power  adequate  to  the  control  of  the  physical 
power  of  the  people. 

Not  only  in  theory,  but  in  fact,  a  republican  government  must  be 


168  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION. 

He  would  have  but  a  partial  knowledge  of  the  world  who 
should  imagine  that  it  is  possible,  by  the  aid  of  legal  fictions, 
to  prevent  men  from  finding  out  and  employing  those  means 
of  gratifying^  their  passions  which  have  been  left  open  to 
them ;  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  American  legis 
lators,  when  they  rendered  a  collision  between  the  two  sove 
reignties  less  probable,  destroyed  the  causes  of  such  a  mis 
fortune.  But  it  may  even  be  affirmed  that  they  were  unable 
to  ensure  the  preponderance  of  the  federal  element  in  a  case 
of  this  kind.  The  Union  is  possessed  of  money  and  of  troops, 
but  the  affections  and  the  prejudices  of  the  people  are  in  the 
bosom  of  tlie  states.  The  sovereignty  of  the  Union  is  an  ab 
stract  being,  which  is  connected  with  but  few  external  objects ; 
the  sovereignty  of  the  states  is  hourly  perceptible,  easily  un 
derstood,  constantly  active  ;  and  if  the  former  is  of  recent  crea 
tion,  the  latter  is  coeval  with  the  people  itself.  The  sovereignty 
of  the  Union  is  factitious,  that  of  the  states  is  natural,  and 
derives  its  existence  from  its  own  simple  influence,  like  the  au 
thority  of  a  parent.  The  supreme  power  of  the  nation  affects 
only  a  few  of  the  chief  interests  of  society  ;  it  represents  an 
immense  but  remote  country,  and  claims  a  feeling  of  patriot 
ism  which  is  vague  and  ill-defined ;  but  the  authority  of  the 
states  controls  every  individual  citizen  at  every  hour  and  in 
all  circumstances ;  it  protects  his  property,  his  freedom,  and 
his  life ;  and  when  we  recollect  the  traditions,  the  customs, 
the  prejudices  of  local  and  familiar  attachment  with  which  it 
is  connected,  we  cannot  doubt  the  superiority  of  a  power 
which  is  interwoven  with  every  circumstance  that  renders 
the  love  of  one's  native  country  instinctive  to  the  human 
heart. 

Since  legislators  are  unable  to  obviate  such  dangerous  col 
lisions  as  occur  between  the  two  sovereignties  which  co-exist 
in  the  federal  system,  their  first  object  must  be,  not  only  to 


administered  by  the  people  themselves.  They,  and  they  alone,  must 
execute  the  laws.  And  hence,  the  first  principles  in  such  govern 
ments,  that  on  which  all  others  depend,  and  without  which  no  other 
can  exist,  is  and  must  be,  obedience  to  the  existing  laws  at  all 
times  and  under  all  circumstances.  It  is  the  vital  condition  of  the 
social  compact.  lie  who  claims  a  dispensing  power  for  himself,  by 
which  .he  suspends  the  operation  of  the  law  in  his  own  case,  is 
worse  than  a  usurper,  for  he  not  only  tramples  under  foot  the  con 
stitution  of  his  country,  but  violates  the  reciprocal  pledge  which  he 
hns  given  to  his  fellow-citizens,  and  has  received  from  them,  that  he 
will  hide  by  the  laws  constitutional! v  c-iaftod;  upon  the  strength  of 
which  pled.ce,  his  own  pcTv»:i  d  ri  ;-hts  and  acquisitions  are  protected 
by  the  rest  of  the  community. — American  Editor.] 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  169 

dissuade  the  confederate  states  from  warfare,  but  to  encourage 
such  institutions  as  may  promote  the  maintenance  of  peace. 
Hence  it  results  that  the  federal  compact  cannot  be  lasting 
unless  there  exists  in  the  communities  which  are  leagued 
together,  a  certain  number  of  inducements  to  union  which 
render  their  common  dependance  agreeable,  and  the  task  of 
the  government  light ;  and  that  system  cannot  succeed  with 
out  the  presence  of  favorable  circumstances  added  to  the  in 
fluence  of  good  laws.  All  the  people  which  have  ever  formed 
a  confederation  have  been  held  together  by  a  certain  number 
of  common  interests,  which  served  as  the  intellectual  ties  of 
association. 

But  the  sentiments  and  the  principles  of  man  must  be  taken 
into  consideration  as  well  as  his  immediate  interest.  A  cer 
tain  uniformity  of  civilisation  is  not  less  necessary  to  the 
durability  of  a  confederation,  than  a  uniformity  of  interests  in 
the  states  which  compose  it.  In  Switzerland  the  difference 
which  exists  between  the  canton  of  Uri  and  the  canton  of 
Vaud  is  equal  to  that  between  the  fifteenth  and  nineteenth 
centuries  ;  and,  properly  speaking,  Switzerland  has  never 
possessed  a  federal  government.  The  Union  between  these 
two  cantons  only  subsists  upon  the  map  ;  and  their  discre 
pancies  would  soon  be  perceived  if  an  attempt  were  made  by 
a  central  authority  to  prescribe  the  same  laws  to  the  whole 
territory. 

One  of  the  circumstances  which  most  powerfully  contri 
bute  to  support  the  federal  government  in  America,  is  that  the 
states  have  not  only  similar  interests,  a  common  origin,  and  a 
common  tongue,  but  that  they  are  also  arrived  at  the  same  stage 
of  civilisation  ;  which  almost  always  renders  a  union  feasible. 
I  do  riot  know  of  any  European  nation,  how  small  soever  it 
may  be,  which  does  not  present  less  uniformity  in  its  differ 
ent  provinces  than  the  American  people,  which  occupies  a 
territory  as  extensive  as  one  half  of  Europe.  The  distance 
from  the  state  of  Maine  to  that  of  Georgia  is  reckoned  at 
about  one  thousand  miles ;  but  the  difference  between  the 
civilisation  of  Maine  and  that  of  Georgia  is  slighter  than  the 
difference  between  the  habits  of  Normandy  and  those  of 
Britany.  Maine  and  Georgia,  which  are  placed  at  the  oppo 
site  extremities  of  a  great  empire,  are  consequently  in  the 
natural  possession  of  more  real  inducements  to  form  a  confede 
ration  than  Normandy  and  Britany,  which  are  only  separated 
by  a  bridge. 

The  geographical  position  of  the  country  contributed  to 
increase  the  facilities  which  the  American  legislators  derived 


170  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION. 

from  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  inhabitants ;  and  it  is 
to  this  circumstance  that  the  adoption  and  the  maintenance 
of  the  federal  system  are  mainly  attributable. 

The  most  important  occurrence  which  can  mark  the  an 
nals  of  a  people  is  the  breaking  out  of  a  war.  In  war  a 
people  struggle  with  the  energy  of  a  single  man  against  for 
eign  nations,  in  the  defence  of  its  very  existence.  The  skill 
of  a  government,  the  good  sense  of  the  community,  and  the 
natural  fondness  which  men  entertain  for  their  country,  may 
suffice  to  maintain  peace  in  the  interior  of  a  district,  and  to 
favor  its  internal  prosperity  ;  but  a  nation  can  only  carry  on 
a  great  war  at  the  cost  of  more  numerous  and  more  painful 
sacrifices  ;  and  to  suppose  that  a  great  number  of  men  will 
of  their  own  accord  comply  with  the  exigencies  of  the  state, 
is  to  betray  an  ignorance  of  mankind.  All  the  peoples  which 
have  been  obliged  to  sustain  a  long  and  serious  warfare  have 
consequently  been  Jed  to  augment  the  power  of  their  govern 
ment.  Those  which  have  not  succeeded  in  this  attempt  have 
been  subjugated,  A  long  war  almost  always  places  nations 
in  the  wretched  alternative  of  being  abandoned  to  ruin  by 
defeat,  or  to  despotism  by  success.  War  therefore  renders 
the  symptoms  of  the  weakness  of  a  government  most  palpa 
ble  and  most  alarming ;  and  I  have  shown  that  the  inherent 
defect  of  federal  governments  is  that  of  being  weak. 

The  federal  system  is  not  only  deficient  in  every  kind  of 
centralized  administration,  but  the  central  government  itself 
is  imperfectly  organized,  which  is  invariably  an  influential 
cause  of  inferiority  when  the  nation  is  opposed  to  other  coun 
tries  which  are  themselves  governed  by  a  single  authority.  In 
the  federal  constitution  of  the  United  States,  by  which  the  cen 
tral  government  possesses  more  real  force,  this  evil  is  still 
extremely  sensible.  An  example  will  illustrate  the  case  to 
the  reader. 

The  constitution  confers  upon  congress  the  right  of  "  call 
ing  forth  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union,  suppress 
insurrections,  and  repel  invasions ;"  and  another  article  de 
clares  that  the  president  of  the  United  States  is  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  militia.  In  the  war  of  1812,  the 
president  ordered  the  militia  of  the  northern  states  to  march 
to  the  frontiers ;  but  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  whose 
interests  were  impaired  by  the  war,  refused  to  obey  the  com 
mand.  They  argued  that  the  constitution  authorizes  the 
federal  government  to  call  forth  the  militia  in  cases  of  insur 
rection  or  invasion,  but  that,  in  tho  present  instance,  there 
was  neither  invasion  nor  insurrection.  They  added,  that 


THE    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION.  171 

the  same  constitution  which  conferred  upon  the  Union  the 
right  of  calling  forth  the  militia,  reserved  to  the  states  that 
of  naming  the  officers  ;  and  that  consequently  (as  they  un 
derstood  the  clause)  no  officer  of  the  Union  had  any  right  to 
command  the  militia,  even  during  war,  except  the  president 
in  person :  and  in  this  case  they  were  ordered  to  join  an 
army  commanded  by  another  individual.  These  absurd  and 
pernicious  doctrines  received  the  sanction  not  only  of  .the 
governors  and  legislative  bodies,  but  also  of  the  courts  of  jus 
tice  in  both  states ;  and  the  federal  government  was  con 
strained  to  raise  elsewhere  the  troops  which  it  required.* 

The  only  safeguard  which  the  American  Union,  with  all 
the  relative  perfection  of  its  laws,  possesses  against  the  dis 
solution  which  would  be  produced  by  a  great  war,  lies  in  its 
probable  exemption  from  that  calamity.  Placed  in  the  cen 
tre  of  an  immense  continent,  which  offers  a  boundless  field 
for  human  industry,  the  Union  is  almost  as  much  insulated 
from  the  world  as  if  its  frontiers  were  girt  by  the  ocean. 
Canada  contains  only  a  million  of  inhabitants,  and  its  popu 
lation  is  divided  into  two  inimical  nations.  The  rigor  of  tiie 
climate  limits  the  extension  of  its  territory,  and  shuts  up  its 
ports  during  the  six  months  of  winter.  From  Canada  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  a  few  savage  tribes  are  to  be  met  with, 
which  retire,  perishing  in  their  retreat,  before  six  thousand 
soldiers.  To  the  south,  the  Union  has  a  point  of  contact  with 
the  empire  of  Mexico ;  and  it  is  thence  that  serious  hostili 
ties  may  one  day  be  expected  to  arise.  But  for  a  long  while 
to  come,  the  uncivilized  state  of  the  Mexican  community,  the 
depravity  of  its  morals,  and  its  extreme  poverty,  will  pre 
vent  that  country  from  ranking  high  among  nations.  As 
for  the  powers  jf  Europe,  they  are  too  distant  to  be  for 
midable. f 

The  great  advantage  of  the  United  States  does  not,  then, 
consist  in  a  federal  constitution  which  allows  them  to  carry 

*  Kent's  Commentaries,  vol.  i.,p.  244.  I  have  selected  an  example 
which  relates  to  a  time  posterior  to  the  promulgation  of  the  present 
constitution.  If  I  had  gone  back  to  the  days  of  the  confederation,  I 
might  have  given  still  more  striking  instances.  The  whole  nation 
was  at  that  time  in  a  state  of  enthusiastic  excitement ;  the  revolution 
was  represented  by  a  man  who  was  the  idol  of  the  people  ;  but  at  that 
very  period  congress  had,  to  say  the  truth,  no  resources  at  all  :it  its 
disposal.  Troops  and  supplies  were  perpetually  wanting.  The  best 
devised  projects  failed  in  the  execution,  and  the  Union,  which  was 
constantly  on  the  verge  of  destruction,  was  saved  by  the  weakness  of 
its  enemies  far  more  than  by  its  own  strength. 

f  Appendix  O 


172  THE    FEDERAL   CONSTITUTION. 

on  great  wars,  but  in  a  geographical  position,  which  rendeia 
such  enterprises  improbable. 

No  one  can  be  more  inclined  than  I  am  myself  to  appreci- 
ate  the  advantages  of  the  federal  system,  which  I  hold  to  be 
one  of  the  combinations  most  favorable  to  the  prosperity  and 
freedom  of  man.  I  envy  the  lot  of  those  nations  which  have 
been  enabled  to  adopt  it ;  but  I  cannot  believe  that  any  con 
federate  peoples  could  maintain  a  long  or  an  equal  contest 
with  a  nation  of  similar  strength  in  which  the  government 
should  be  centralised.  A  people  which  should  divide  its  sove 
reignty  into  fractional  powers,  in  the  presence  of  the  great 
military  monarchies  of  Europe,  would,  in  my  opinion,  by  that 
very  act,  abdicate  its  power,  and  perhaps  its  existence  and  its 
name.  But  such  is  the  admirable  position  of  the  New  World, 
that  man  has  no  other  enemy  than  himself;  and  that  in  order 
to  be  happy  and  to  be  free,  it  suffices  Jo  seek  the  gifts  of  pros 
perity  and  the  knowledge  of  freedom. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

t 

I  HAVE  hitherto  examined  the  institutions  of  the  United 
States  ;  I  have  passed  their  legislation  in  review,  and  I  have 
depicted  the  present  characteristics  of  political  society  in  that 
country.  But  a  sovereign  power  exists  above  these  institu 
tions  and  beyond  these  characteristic  features,  which  may  de 
stroy  or  modify  them  at  its  pleasure  ;  I  mean  that  of  the  peo 
ple.  It  remains  to  be  shown  in  what  manner  this  power, 
which  regulates  the  laws,  acts:  its  propensities  and  its  passions 
remain  to  be  pointed  out,  as  well  as  the  secret  springs  which 
retard,  accelerate,  or  direct  its  irresistible  course  ;  and  the 
effects  of  its  unbounded  authority,  with  the  destiny  which  is 
probably  reserved  for  it. 


WHY    THE    PEOPLE    MAY    STRICTLY  BE    SAID   TO    GOVERN  IN    THE 
UNITED    STATES. 

IN  America  the  people  appoints  the  legislative  and  the  exe 
cutive  power,  and  furnishes  the  jurors  who  punish  all  offences 
against  the  laws.  The  American  institutions  are  democratic, 
not  only  in  their  principle  but  in  all  their  consequences ;  and 


PARTIES    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  173 

the  people  elects  iis  representatives  directly,  and  for  the  most 
part  annually,  in  order  to  ensure  their  dependence.  The 
people  is  therefore  the  real  directing  power ;  and  although 
the  form  of  government  is  representative,  it  is  evident  that  the 
opinions,  the  prejudices,  the  interests,  and  even  the  passions 
of  the  community  are  hindered  by  no  durable  obstacles  from 
exercising  a  perpetual  influence  on  society.  In  the  United 
States  the  majority  governs  in  the  name  of  the  people,  as  is 
the  case  in  all  the  countries  in  which  the  people  is  supreme. 
This  majority  is  principally  composed  of  peaceable  citizens, 
who,  either  by  inclination  or  by  interest,  are  sincerely  desirous 
of  the  welfare  of  their  country.  But  they  are  surrounded 
by  the  incessant  agitation  of  parties,  which  attempt  to  gain 
their  co-operation  and  to  avail  themselves  of  their  support. 


CHAPTER  X. 


PARTIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Great  Division  to  be  made  between  Parties. — Parties  which  are  to  each 
other  as  rival  Nations. — Parties  properly  so  called. — Difference 
between  great  and  small  Parties. — Epochs  which  produce  them. — 
Their  Characteristics. — America  has  had  great  Parties.— They  are 
extinct. — Federalists. — Republicans. — Defeat  of  the  Federalists. — 
Difficulty  of  creating  Parties  in  the  United  States. — What  is  done 
with  this  Intention. — Aristocratic  and  democratic  Character  to  be 
met  with  in  all  Parties. — Struggle  of  General  Jackson  against:  the 
Bank. 

A.  GREAT  division  must  be  made  between  parties.  Some 
countries  are  so  large  that  the  different  populations  which 
inhabit  them  have  contradictory  interests,  although  they  are 
the  subjects  of  the  same  government ;  and  they  may  thence 
be  in  a  perpetual  state  of  opposition.  In  this  case  the  different 
fractions  of  the  people  may  more  properly  be  considered  as 
distinct  nations  than  as  mere  parties  ;  and  if  a  civil  war 
breaks  out,  the  struggle  is  carried  off  by  rival  peoples  rather 
than  by  factions  in  the  state. 

But  when  the  citizens  entertain  different  opinions  upon 
subjects  which  affect  the  whole  country  alike,  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  principles  upon  which  the  government  is  to  be 
conducted,  then  distinctions  arise  which  may  correctly  be 
styled  parties.  Parties  are  a  necessary  evil  in  free  govern- 


174  PARTIES    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

merits ;  but  they  have  not  at  all  times  the  same  character  and 
the  same  propensities. 

/";  At  certain  periods  a  nation  may  be  oppressed  by  such 
insupportable  evils  as  to  conceive  the  design  of  effecting  a 
total  change  in  its  political  constitution ;  at  other  times  the 
mischief  lies  still  deeper,  and  the  existence  of  society  itself  is 
endangered.  Such  are  the  times  of  great  revolutions  and  of 
great  parties.  But  between  these  epochs  of  misery  and  of 
confusion  there  are  periods  during  which  human  society  seem'* 
to  rest,  and  mankind  to  make  a  pause.  This  pause  is,  indetd, 
only  apparent ;  for  time  does  not  stop  its  course  for  nations 
any  more* than  for  men  ;  they  are  all  advancing  toward  a 
goal  with  which  they  are  unacquainted  ;  and  we  only  imagine 
them,-, to  be  stationary  when  their  progress  escapes  our  obser 
vation;  as  men  who  are  going  at  a  foot  pace  seem  to  be 
standing  still  to  those  who  run. 

But  however  this  may  be,  there  are  certain  epochs  at  which 
the  changes  that  take  place  in  the  social  and  political  consti- 
tution  of  nations  are  so  slow  and  so  insensible,  that  men 
imagine  their  present  condition  to  be  a  final  state ;  and  the 
human  mind,  believing  itself  to  be  firmly  based  upon  certain 
foundations,  does  not  extend  its  researches  beyond  the  horizon 
which  it  descries.  These  are  the  times  of  small  parties  and 
of  intrigue. 

The  political  parties  which  I  style  great  are  those  which 
cling  to  principles  more  than  to  consequences;  to  general, 
and  not  to  especial  cases  ;  to  ideas,  and  not  to  men.  These 
parties  are  usually  distinguished  by  a  nobler  character,  by 
more  generous  passions,  more  genuine  convictions,  and  a 
more  bold  and  open  conduct  than  the  others.  In  them,  private 
interest,  which  always  plays  the  chief  part  in  political  pas 
sions,  is  more  studiously  veiled  under  the  pretext  of  the 
public  good ;  and  it  may  even  be  sometimes  concealed  from 
the  eyes  of  the  very  person  whom  it  excites  and  impels. 

Minor  parties  are,  on  the  other  hand,  generally  deficient  in 
political  faith.  As  they  are  not  sustained  or  dignified  by  a 
lofty  purpose,  they  ostensibly  display  the  egotism  of  their 
character  in  their  actions.  They  glow  with  a  factitious  zeal ; 
their  language  is  vehement,  but  their  conduct  is  timid  and 
irresolute.  The  means  they  employ  are  as  wretched  as  the 
end  at  which  they  aim.  Hence  it  arises  that  when  a  calm 
state  of  things  succeeds  a  violent  revolution,  the  leaders  of 
society  seem  suddenly  to  disappear,  and  the  powers  of  the 
human  mind  to  lie  concealed.  Society  is  convulsed  by  great 
parties,  by  minor  ones  it  is  agitated  ;  it  is  torn  by  the  former, 


PARTIES    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  175 

by  the  latter  it  is  degraded  ;  and  if  these  sometimes  save  it 
by  a  salutary  perturbation,  those  invariably  disturb  it  to  no 
good  end. 

America  has  already  lost  the  great  parties  which  once 
divided  the  nation  ;  and  if  her  happiness  is  considerably 
increased,  her  morality  has  suffered  by  their  extinction. 
When  the  war  of  independence  was  terminated,  and  the 
foundations  of  the  new  government  were  to  be  laid  down,  the 
nation  was  divided  between  two  opinions — two  opinions  which 
are  as  old  as  the  world,  and  which  are  perpetually  to  be  met 
with  under  all  the  forms  and  all  the  names  which  have  ever 
obtained  in  free  communities — the  one  tending  to  limit,  the 
other  to  extend  indefinitely,  the  power  of  the  people.  The 
conflict  of  these  two  opinions  never  assumed  that  degree  of 
violence  in  America  which  it  has  frequently  displayed  else 
where.  Both  parties  of  the  Americans  were  in  fact  agreed 
upon  the  most  essential  points  ;  and  neither  of  them  had* 
to  destroy  a  traditionary  constitution,  or  to  overthrow  the 
structure  of  society,  in  order  to  insure  its  own  triumph.  In 
neither  of  them,  consequently,  were  a  great  number  of 
private  interests  affected  by  success  or  by  defeat ;  but  moral 
principles  of  a  high  order,  such  as  the  love  of  equality  and  of 
independence,  were  concerned  in  the  struggle,  and  they  suf 
ficed  to  kindle  violent  passions. 

The  party  which  desired  to  limit  the  power  of  the  people, 
endeavored  to  apply  its  doctrines  more  especially  to  the 
constitution  of  the  Union,  whence  it  derived  its  name  of 
federal.  The  other  party,  which  affected  to  be  more  exclu 
sively  attached  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  took  that  of  republican. 
America  is  the  land  of  democracy,  and  the  federalists  were 
always  in  a  minority  ;  but  they  reckoned  on  their  side  almost 
all  the  great  men  who  had  been  called  forth  by  the  war  of 
independence,  and  their  moral  influence  was  very  considerable. 
Their  cause  was,  moreover,  favored  by  circumstances.  The 
ruin  of  the  confederation  had  impressed  the  people  with  a 
dread  of  anarchy,  and  the  federalists  did  not  fail  to  profit  by 
this  transient  disposition  of  the  multitude.  For  ten  or  twelve 
years  they  were  at  the  head  of  affairs,  and  they  were  able  to 
apply  some,  though  not  all,  of  their  principles  ;  for  the  hostile 
current  was  becoming  from  day  to  day  too  violent  to  be 
checked  or  stemmed.  In  1801  the  republicans  got  possession 
of  the  government :  Thomas  Jefferson  was  named  president ; 
and  he  increased  the  influence  of  their  party  by  the  weight 
of  his  celebrity,  the  greatness  of  his  talents,  and  the  immense 
extent  of  his  popularity. 


176  PARTIES    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  means  by  which  the  federalists  had  maintained  their 
position  were  artificial,  and  their  resources  were  temporary  : 
it  was  by  the  virtues  or  the  talents  of  their  leaders  that  they 
had  risen  to  power.  When  the  republicans  attained  to  that 
lofty  station,  their  opponents  were  overwhelmed  by  utter 
defeat.  An  immense  majority  declared  itself  against  the 
retiring  party,  and  the  federalists  found  themselves  in  so  small 
a,  minority,  that  they  at  once  despaired  of  their  future  success. 
From  that  moment  the  republican  or  democratic  party  has 
proceeded  from  conquest  to  conquest,  until  it  has  acquired 
absolute  supremacy  in  the  country.  The  federalists, 
perceiving  mat  they  were  vanquished  without  resource,  and 
isolated  in  the  midst  of  the  nation,  fell  into  two  divisions,  of 
which  one  joined  the  victorious  republicans,  and  the  other 
abandoned  its  rallying  point  and  its  name.  Many  years  have 
already  elapsed  since  they  ceased  to  exist  as  a  party. 

The  accession  of  the  federalists  to  power  was,  in  my 
opinion,  one  of  the  most  fortunate  incidents  which  accompa 
nied  the  formation  of  the  great  American  Union  :  they  resisted 
the  inevitable  propensities  of  their  age  and  of  their  country. 
But  whether  their  theories  were  good  or  bad,  they  had  the  de 
fect  of  being  inapplicable,  as  a  system,  to  the  society  which 
they  professed  to  govern  ;  and  that  which  occurred  under  the 
auspices  of  Jefferson  must  therefore  have  taken  place  sooner 
or  later.  But  their  government  gave  the  new  republic  time 
to  acquire  a  certain  stability,  and  afterward  to  support  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  very  doctrines  which  they  had  combated. 
A  considerable  number  of  their  principles  were  in  point  of 
fact  embodied  in  the  political  creed  of  their  opponents ;  and 
the  federal  constitution,  which  subsists  at  the  present  day,  is 
a  lasting  monument  of  their  patriotism  and  their  wisdom. 

Great  political  parties  are  not,  then,  to  be  met  with  in  the 
United  States  at  the  present  time.  Parties,  indeed,  may  be 
found  which  threaten  the  future  tranquillity  of  the  Union  ;  but 
there  are  none  which  seem  to  contest  the  present  form  of 
government,  or  the  present- course  of  society.  The  parties 
by  which  the  Union  is  menaced  do  not  rest  upon  abstract 
principles,  but  upon  temporal  interests.  These  interests,  dis 
seminated  in  the  provinces  of  so  vast  an  empire,  may  be  said 
to  constitute  rival  nations  rather  than  parties.  Thus,  upon  a 
recent  occasion,  the,  north  contended  for  the  system  of  com 
mercial  prohibition,  and  the  south  took  up  arms  in  favor  of 
free  trade,  simply  because  the  north  is  a  manufacturing,  and 
the  south  an  agricultural  district ;  and  that  the  restrictive 


PARTIES    IN    ^HE    UNITED    STATES.  177 

system  which  was  profitable  to  the  one,  was  prejudicial  to  the 
other. 

In  the  absence  of  great  parties,  the  United  States  abound 
with  lesser  controversies  ;  and  public  opinion  is  divided  into 
a  thousand  minute  shades  of  difference  upon  questions  of 
very  little  moment.  The  pains  which  are  taken  to  create 
parties  are  inconceivable,  and  at  the  present  day  it  is  no  easy 
task.  In  the  United  States  there  is  ho  religious  animosity, 
because  all  religion  is  respected,  and  no  sect  is  predominant ; 
there  is  no  jealousy  of  rank,  because  the  people  is  every 
thing,  and  none  can  contest  its  authority ;  lastly,  there  is  no 
public  misery  to  serve  as  a  means  of  agitation,  because  the 
physical  position  of  the  country  opens  so  wide  a  field  to 
industry,  that  man  is  able  to  accomplish  the  most  surprising 
undertakings  with  his  own  native  resources.  Nevertheless, 
ambitious  men  are  interested  in  the  creation  of  parties,  since 
it  is  difficult  to  eject  a  person  from  authority  upon  the  mere 
ground  that  his  place  is  coveted  by  others.  The  skill  of  the 
actors  in  the  political  world  lies,  therefore,  in  the  art  of  cre 
ating  parties.  A  political  aspirant  in  the  United  States  be 
gins  by  discriminating  his  own  interest,  and  by  calculating 
upon  those  interests  which  may  be  collected  around,  and 
amalgamated  with  it ;  he  then  contrives  to  discover  some  doc 
trine  or  some  principle  which  may  suit  the  purposes  of  this 
new  association,  and  which  he  adopts  in  order  to  bring  for 
ward  hte  party  and  to  secure  its  popularity  :  just  as  the 
imprimatur  of  a  king  was  in  former  days  incorporated  with 
the  volume  which  it  authorized,  but  to  which  it  nowise  be 
longed.  When  these  preliminaries  are  terminated,  the  new 
party  is  ushered  into  the  political  world. 

All  the  domestic  controversies  of  the  Americans  at  first  ap 
pear  to  a  stranger  to  be  so  incomprehensible  and  so  puerile, 
that  he  is  at  a  loss  whether  to  pity  a  people  which  takes  such 
arrant  trifles  in  good  earnest,  or  to  envy  that  happiness  which 
enables  it  to  discuss  them.  But  when  he  comes  to  study  the 
secret  propensities  which  govern  the  factions  of  America,  he 
easily  perceives  that  the  greater  part  of  them  are  more  or  less 
connected  with  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  divisions  which 
have  always  existed  in  free  communities.  The  deeper  we 
penetrate  into  the  workings  of  these  parties,  the  more  do  we 
perceive  that  the  object  of  the  one  is  to  limit,  and  that  of  the 
other  to  extend,  the  popular  authority.  I  do  not  assert  that 
the  ostensible  end,  or  even  that  the  secret  aim,  of  American 
parties  is  to  promote  the  rule  of  aristocracy  or  democracy  in 
the  country,  but  I  affirm  that  aristocratic  or  democratic  pas- 
12 


178  PARTIES    IN    THE    UNITED   STATES. 

sions  may  easily  be  detected  at  the  bottom  of  all  parties,  and 
that,  although  they  escape  a  superficial  observation,  they  are 
the  main  point  and  the  very  soul  of  every  faction  in  the 
United  States. 

To  quote  a  recent  example  :  when  the  president  attacked 
the  bank,  the  country  was  excited  and  parties  were  formed ; 
the  well-informed  classes  rallied  round  the  bank,  the  common 
people  round  the  president.  But  it  must  not  be  imagined 
that  the  people  had  formed  a  rational  opinion  upon  a  question 
which  offers  so  many  difficulties  to  the  most  experienced 
statesmen.  ^  The  bank  is  a  great  establishment  which  enjoys 
an  independent  existence,  and  the  people,  accustomed  to  make 
and  unmake  whatsoever  it  pleases,  is  startled  to  meet  with 
this  obstacle  to  its  authority.  In  the  midst  of  the  perpetual 
fluctuation  of  society,  the  community  is  irritated  by  so  per- 
manent  an  institution,  and  is  led  to  attack  it,  in  order  to  see 
whether  it  can  be  shaken  and  controlled,  like  all  the  other  in 
stitutions  of  the  country. 


REMAINS  OF  THE  ARISTOCRATIC  PARTY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Secret  Opposition  of  wealthy  Individuals   to  Democracy. — Their  re- 
'  tirement— Their   tastes  for  exclusive  Pleasures  and  for  Luxury  at 
Home. — Their  Simplicity  Abroad. — Their  affected  Condescension 
toward  the  People. 

IT  sometimes  happens  in  a  people  among  which  various  opi 
nions  prevail,  that  the  balance  of  the  several  parties  is  lost, 
and  one  of  them  obtains  an  irresistible  preponderance,  over 
powers  all  obstacles,  harasses  its  opponents,  and  appropriates 
all  the  resources  of  society  to  its  own  purposes.  The  van 
quished  citizens  despair  of  success,  and  they  conceal  their 
dissatisfaction  in  silence  and  in  a  general  apathy.  The  na 
tion  seems  to  be  governed  by  a  single  principle,  and  the  pre 
vailing  party  assumes  the  credit  of  having  restored  peace  and 
unanimity  to  the  country.  But  this  apparent  unanimity  is 
merely  a  clpak  to  alarming  dissensions  and  perpetual  oppo 
sition. 

This  is  precisely  what  occurred  in  America ;  when  the 
democratic  party  got  the  upper  hand,  it  took  exclusive  pos 
session  of  the  conduct  of  affairs,  and  from  that  time  the  laws 
and  customs  of  society  have  been  adapted  to  its  caprices. 
At  the  present  day  the  more  affluent  classes  of  society  are 
so  entirely  removed  from  the  direction  of  political  affairs  in 


PARTIES   IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  179 

the  United  States,  that  wealth,  far  from  conferring  a  right  to 
the  exercise  of  power,  is  rather  an  obstacle  than  a  means 
of  attaining  to  it.  The  wealthy  members  of  the  community 
abandon  the  lists,  through  unwillingness  to  contend,  and  fre 
quently  to  contend  in  vain,  against  the  poorest  classes  of  their 
fellow-citizens.  They  concentrate  all  their  enjoyments  in  the 
privacy  of  their  homes,  where  they  occupy  a  rank  which 
cannot  be  assumed  in  public ;  and  they  constitute  a  private 
society  in  the  state,  which  has  its  own  tastes  and  its  own 
pleasures.  They  submit  to  this  state  of  things  as  an  irre 
mediable  evil,  but  they  are  careful  not  to  show  that  they  are 
galled  by  its  continuance ;  it  is  even  not  uncommon  to  hear 
them  laud  the  delights  of  a  republican  government,  and  the 
advantages  of  democratic  institutions  when  they  are  in  pub 
lic.  Next  to  hating  their  enemies,  men  are  most  inclined 
to  flatter  them. 

Mark,  for  instance,  that  opulent  citizen,  who  is  as  anxious 
as  a  Jew  of  the  middle  ages  to  conceal  his  wealth.  His  dress 
is  plain,  his  demeanor  unassuming ;  but  the  interior  of  his 
dwelling  glitters  with  luxury,  and  none  but  a  few  chosen 
guests  whom  he  haughtily  styles  his  equals,  are  allowed  to 
penetrate  into  this  sanctuary.  No  European  noble  is  more 
exclusive  in  his  pleasures,  or  more  jealous  of  the  smallest 
advantages  which  his  privileged  station  confers  upon  him. 
But  the  very  same  individual  crosses  the  city  to  reach  a 
dark  counting-house  in  the  centre  of  traffic,  where  every  one 
may  accost  him  who  pleases.  If  he  meets  his  cobbler  upon 
the  way,  they  stop  and  converse  ;  the  two  citizens  discuss 
the  affairs  of  the  state  in  which  they  have  an  equal  interest, 
and  they  shake  hands  before  they  part. 

But  beneath  this  artificial  enthusiasm,  and  these  obsequi 
ous  attentions  to  the  preponderating  power,  it  is  easy  to 
perceive  that  the  wealthy  members  of  the  community  enter 
tain  a  hearty  distaste  to  the  democratic  institutions  of  their 
country.  The  populace  is  at  once  the  object  of  their  scorn 
and  of  their  fears.  If  the  mal-administration  of  the  demo 
cracy  ever  brings  about  a  revolutionary  crisis,  and  if  mo 
narchical  institutions  ever  become  practicable  in  the  United 
States,  the  truth  of  what  I  advance  will  become  obvious. 

The  two  chief  weapons  which  parties  use  in  order  to  ensure 
success,  are  the  public  press,  and  the  formation  of  associations. 


180  LIBERTY   OF   THE    PRESS 

CHAPTER  XI. 

LIBERTY   OF   THE    PRESS    IN    THE   UNITED    STATES. 

Difficulty  of  restraining  the  Liberty  of  the  Press.—  Particular  reasons 
which  some  Nations  have  to  cherish  this  Liberty. — The  Liberty  of 
the  Press  a  necessary  Consequence  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  people 
as  it  is  understood  in  America.: — Violent  Language  of  the  periodical 
Press  in  the  United  States. — Propensities  of  the  periodical  Press. — 
Illustrated  »by  the  United  States. — Opinion  of  the  Americans  upon 
the  Repression  of  the  Abuse  of  the  Liberty  of  the  Press  by  judicial 
Prosecutions. — Reasons  for  which  the  Press  is  less  powerful  in  Ame 
rica  than  in  France. 

THE  influence  of  the  liberty  of  the  press  does  not  affect  poli 
tical  opinions  alone,  but  it  extends  to  all  the  opinions  of  men, 
and  it  modifies  customs  as  well  as  laws.  In  another  part  of 
this  work  I  shall  attempt  to  determine  the  degree  of  influence 
which  the  liberty  of  the  press  has  exercised  upon  civil  society 
in  the  United  States,  and  to  point  out  the  direction  which  it 
has  given  to  the  ideas,  as  well  as  the  tone  which  it  has  im 
parted  to  the  character  and  the  feelings  of  the  Anglo-Ameri 
cans,  but  at  present  I  purpose  simply  to  examine  the  effects 
produced  by  the  liberty  of  the  press  in  the  political  world. 

I  confess  that  I  do  not  entertain  that  firm  and  complete 
attachment  to  the  liberty  of  the  press,  which  things  that  are 
supremely  good  in  their  very  nature  are  wont  to  excite  in  the 
mind ;  and  I  approve  of  it  more  from  a  recollection  of  the 
evils  it  prevents,  than  from  a  consideration  of  the  advantages 
it  ensures. 

If  any  one  can  point  out  an  intermediate,  and  yet  a  tenable 
position,  between  the  complete  independence  and  the  entire 
subjection  of  the  public  expression  of  opinion,  I  should  per 
haps  be  inclined  to  adopt  it ;  but  the  difficulty  is  to  discover 
this  position.  If  it  is  your  intention  to  correct  the  abuses  of 
unlicensed  printing,  and  to  restore  the  use  of  orderly  Ian- 
guage,  you  may  in  the  first  instance  try  the  offender  by  a 
jury  ;  but  if  the  jury  acquits  him,  the  opinion  which  was  that 
of  a  single  individual  becomes  the  opinion  of  the  country  at 
large.  Too  much  and  too  little  has  therefore  hitherto  been 
done ;  if  you  proceed,  you  must  bring  the  delinquent  before 
permanent  magistrates;  but  even  here  the  cause  must  be 
heard  before  it  can  be  decided;  and  the  very  principles 
which  no  book  would  have  ventured  to  avow  are  blazoned 
forth  in  the  pleadings,  and  what  was  obscurely  hinted  at  in  a 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  181 

single  composition  is  then  repeated  in  a  multitude  of  other 
publications.  The  language  in  which  a  thought  is  embodied 
is  the  mere  carcase  of  the  thought,  and  not  the  idea  itself; 
tribunals  may  condemn  the  form,  but  the  sense  and  spirit  of 
the  work  is  too  subtle  for  their  authority :  too  much  has  still 
been  done  to  recede,  too  little  to  attain  your  end  :  you  must 
therefore  proceed.  If  you  establish  a  censorship  of  the 
press,  the  tongue  of  the  public  speaker  will  still  make  itself 
heard,  and  you  have  only  increased  the  mischief.  The  pow 
ers  of  thought  do  not  rely,  like  the  powers  of  physical 
strength,  upon  the  number  of  their  mechanical  agents,  nor 
can  a  host  of  authors  be  reckoned  like  the  troops  which  com 
pose  an  army  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  authority  of  a  principle 
is  often  increased  by  the  smallness  of  the  number  of  men  by 
whom  it  is  expressed.  The  words  of  a  strong-minded  man, 
which  penetrate  amid  the  passions  of  a  listening  assembly, 
have  more  weight  than  the  vociferations  of  a  thousand  orators  ; 
and  if  it  be  allowed  to  speak  freely  in  any  public  place,  the 
consequence  is  the  same  as  if  free  speaking  was  allowed  in 
every  village.  The  liberty  of  discourse  must  therefore  be 
destroyed  as  well  as  the  liberty  of  the  press ;  this  is  the 
necessary  term  of  your  efforts  ;  but  if  your  object  was  to 
repress  the  abuses  of  liberty,  they  have  brought  you  to  the 
feet  of  a  despot.  You  have  been  led  from  the  extreme  of 
independence  to  the  extreme  of  subjection,  without  meeting 
with  a  single  tenable  position  for  shelter  or  repose. 

There  are  certain  nations  which  have  peculiar  reasons  for 
cherishing  the  press,  independently  of  the  general  motives 
which  I  have  just  pointed  out.  For  in  certain  countries  which 
profess  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  freedom,  every  individual 
agent  of  the  government  may  violate  the  laws  with  impunity, 
since  those  whom  he  oppresses  cannot  prosecute  him  before 
the  courts  of  justice.  In  this  case  the  liberty  of  the  press  is 
not  merely  a  guarantee,  but  it  is  the  only  guarantee  of  their 
liberty  and  their  security  which  the  citizens  possess.  If  the 
rulers  of  these  nations  proposed  to  abolish  the  independence 
of  the  press,  the  people  would  be  justified  in  saying  :  "  Give 
us  the  right  of  prosecuting  your  offences  before  the  ordinary 
tribunals,  and  perhaps  we  may  then  waive  our  right  of  ap 
peal  to  the  tribunal  of  public  opinion." 

£  But  in  the  countries  in  which  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereign 
ty  of  the  people  ostensibly  prevails,  the  censorship  of  the  press 
is  not  only  dangerous,  but  it  is  absurd.  I  When  the  right  of 
every  citizen  to  co-operate  in  the  government  of  society  is 
acknowledged,  every  citizen  must  be  presumed  to  possess  the 


182  LIBERTY    OF    THE    PRESS 

power  of  discriminating  between  the  different  opinions  of  his 
cotemporaries,  and  of  appreciating  the  different  facts  from 
which  inferences  may  be  drawn.  The  sovereignty  of  the 
people  and  the  liberty  of  the  press  may  therefore  be  looked 
upon  as  correlative  institutions ;  just  as  the  censorship  of  the 
press  and  universal  suffrage  are  two  things  which  are  irrecon- 
cileably  opposed,  and  which  cannot  long  be  retained  among 
the  institutions  of  the  same  people.  Not  a  single  individual 
of  the  twelve  millions  who  inhabit  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  has  as  yet  dared  to  propose  any  restrictions  to  the  liber 
ty  of  the  press.  The  first  newspaper  over  which  I  cast  my 
eyes,  after  my  arrival  in  America,  contained  the  following 
article : 

"  In  all  this  affair,  the  language  of  Jackson  has  been  that  of  a  heart 
less  despot,  solely  occupied  with  the  preservation  of  his  own  authority. 
Ambition  is  his  crime,  and  it  will  be  his  punishment  too:  intrigue  is 
his  native  element,  and  intrigue  will  confound  his  tricks,  and  will  de 
prive  him  of  his  power ;  he  governs  by  means  of  corruption,  and  his 
immoral  practices  will  redound  to  his  shame  and  confusion.  His  con 
duct  in  the  political  arena  has  been  that  of  a  shameless  and  lawless 
gamester.  He  succeeded  at  the  time,  but  the  hour  of  retribution  ap 
proaches,  and  he  will  be  obliged  to  disgorge  his  winnings,  to  throw 
aside  his  false  dice,  and  to  end  his  days  in  some  retirement  where  he 
may  curse  his  madness  at  his  leisure ;  for  repentance  is  a  virtue  with 
which  his  heart  is  likely  to  remain  for  ever  unacquainted." 

It  is  not  uncommonly  imagined  in  France,  that  the  viru 
lence  of  the  press  originates  in  the  uncertain  social  condition, 
in  the  political  excitement,  and  the  general  sense  of  conse 
quent  evil  which  prevail  in  that  country ;  and  it  is  therefore 
supposed  that  as  soon  as  society  has  resumed  a  certain  degree 
of  composure,  the  press  will  abandon  its  present  vehemence. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  above  causes  explain  the  rea 
son  of  the  extraordinary  ascendency  it  has  acquired  over  the 
nation,  but  that  they  do  not  exercise  much  influence  upon  the 
tone  of  its  language.  The  periodical  press  appears  to  me  to 
be  actuated  by  passions  and  propensities  independent  of  the 
circumstances  in  which  it  is  placed  ;  and  the  present  position 
of  America  corroborates  this  opinion. 

America  is,  perhaps,  at  this  moment,  the  country  of  the 
whole  world  which  contains  the  fewest  germs  of  revolution ; 
but  the  press  is  not  less  destructive  in  its  principles  than  in 
France,  and  it  displays  the  same  violence  without  the  same 
reasons  for  indignation.  In  America,  as  in  France,  it  con 
stitutes  a  singular  power,  so  strangely  composed  of  mingled 
good  and  evil,  that  it  is  at  the  same  time  indispensable  to  the 
existence  of  freedom,  and  nearly  incompatible  with  the  main- 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  183 

tenance  of  public  order.  Its  power  is  certainly  much  greater 
in  France  than  in  the  United  States ;  though  nothing  is  more 
rare  in  the  latter  country  than  to  hear  of  a  prosecution  having 
been  instituted  against  it.  The  reason  of  this  is  perfectly 
simple  ;  the  Americans  having  once  admitted  the  doctrine  of 
sovereignty  of  the  people,  apply  it  with  perfect  consistency. 
It  was  never  their  intention  to  found  a  permanent  state  of 
things  with  elements  which  undergo  daily  modifications  ;  and 
there  is  consequently  nothing  criminal  in  an  attack  upon  the 
existing  laws,  provided  it  be  not  attended  with  a  violent  infrac 
tion  of  them.  They  are  moreover  of  opinion  that  courts  of 
justice  are  unable  to  check  the  abuses  of  the  press ;  and 
that  as  the  subtlety  of  human  language  perpetually  eludes  the 
severity  of  judicial  analysis,  offences  of  this  nature  are  apt 
to  escape  the  hand  which  attempts  to  apprehend  them.  They 
hold  that  to  act  with  efficacy  upon  the  press,  it  would  be  ne 
cessary  to  find  a  tribunal,  not  only  devoted  to  the  existing 
order  of  things,  but  capable  of  surmounting  the  influence  of 
public  opinion ;  a  tribunal  which  should  conduct  its  proceed 
ings  without  publicity,  which  should  pronounce  its  decrees 
without  assigning  its  motives,  and  punish  the  intentions  even 
more  than  the  language  of  an  author.  Whosoever  should 
have  the  power  of  creating  and  maintaining  a  tribunal  of  this 
kind,  would  waste  his  time  in  prosecuting  the  liberty  of  the 
press  ;  for  he  would  be  the  supreme  master  of  the  whole  com 
munity,  and  he  would  be  as  free  to  rid  himself  of  the  authors 
as  of  their  writings.  In  this  question,  therefore,  there  is  no 
medium  between  servitude  and  extreme  license  ;  in  order  to 
enjoy  the  inestimable  benefits  which  the  liberty  of  the  press 
ensures,  it  is  necessary  to  submit  to  the  inevitable  evils  which 
it  engenders.  To  expect  to  acquire  the  former,  and  to  escape 
the  latter,  is  to  cherish  one  of  those  illusions  which  commonly 
mislead  nations  in  their  times  of  sickness,  when,  tired  with 
faction  and  exhausted  by  effort,  they  attempt  to  combine  hos 
tile  opinions  and  contrary  principles  upon  the  same  soil. 

The  small  influence  of  the  American  journals  is  attributa 
ble  to  several  reasons,  among  which  are  the  following  : — 

The  liberty  of  writing,  like  all  other  liberty,  is  most  formi 
dable  when  it  is  a  novelty  ;  for  a  people  which  has  never 
been  accustomed  to  co-operate  in  the  conduct  of  state  affairs, 
places  implicit  confidence  in  the  first  tribune  who  arouses  its 
attention.  The  Anglo-Americans  have  enjoyed  this  liberty 
ever  since  the  foundation  of  the  settlements  ;  moreover,  the 
press  cannot  create  human  passions  by  its  own  power,  how 
ever  skilfully  it  may  kindle  them  where  they  exist.  In  Ame- 


184  LIBERTY    OF    THE    PRESS 

riea  politics  are  discussed  with  animation  and  a  varied  acti 
vity,  but  they  rarely  touch  those  deep  passions  which  are 
excited  whenever  the  positive  interest  of  a  part  of  the  com 
munity  is  impaired :  but  in  the  United  States  the  interests  of 
the  community  are  in  a  most  prosperous  condition.  A  single 
glance  upon  a  French  and  an  American  newspaper  is  suffi 
cient  to  show  the  difference  which  exists  between  the  two  nations 
on  this  head.  In  France  the  space  allotted  to  commercial  ad- 
"  vertisements  is  very  limited,  and  the  intelligence  is  not 
considerable,  but  the  most  essential  part  of  the  journal  is  that 
which  contains  the  discussion  of  the  politics  of  the  day.  In 
America  three  quarters  of  the  enormous  sheet  which  is  set 
before  the  reader  are  filled  with  advertisements,  and  the  re 
mainder  is  frequently  occupied  by  political  intelligence  or 
trivial  anecdotes :  it  is  only  from  time  to  time  that  one  finds 
a  corner  devoted  to  passionate  discussions  like  those  with 
which  the  journalists  of  France  are  wont  to  indulge  their 
readers. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  by  observation,  and  discovered 
by  the  innate  sagacity  of  the  pettiest  as  well  as  the  greatest 
of  despots,  that  the  influence  of  a  power  is  increased  in  pro 
portion  as  its  direction  is  rendered  more  central.  In  France 
the  press  combines  a  twofold  centralisation  :  almost  all  its 
power  is  centred  in  the  same  spot,  and  vested  in  the  same 
hands,  for  its  organs  are  far  from  numerous.  The  influence 
of  a  public  press  thus  constituted,  upon  a  sceptical  nation, 
must  be  unbounded.  It  is  an  enemy  with  which  a  govern 
ment  may  sign  an  occasional  truce,  but  which  it  is  difficult  to 
resist  for  any  length  of  time. 

Neither  of  these  kinds  of  centralisation  exists  in  America. 
The  United  States  have  no  metropolis  ;  the  intelligence  as 
well  as  the  power  of  the  country  is  dispersed  abroad,  and  in 
stead  of  radiating  from  a  point,  they  cross  each  other  in  every 
direction ;  the  Americans  have  established  no  central  control 
over  the  expression  of  opinion,  any  more  than  over  the  con 
duct  of  business.  These  a,re  circumstances  which  do  not 
depend  on  human  foresight ;  but  it  is  owing  to  the  laws  of 
the  Union  that  there  are  no  licenses  to  be  granted  to  the 
printers,  no  securities  demanded  from  editors,  as  in  France, 
and  no  stamp  duty  as  in  France  and  England.  The  conse 
quence  of  this  is  that  nothing  is  easier  than  to  set  up  a  news 
paper,  and  a  small  number  of  readers  suffices  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  editor. 

The  number  of  periodical  and  occasional  publications 
which  appear  in  the  United  States  actually  surpasses  belief. 


IN    THE    LNITED    STATES  185 

The  most  enlightened  Americans  attribute  the  subordinate 
influence  of  the  press  to  this  excessive  dissemination  ;  and  it 
is  adopted  as  an  axiom  of  political  science  in  that  country, 
that  the  only  way  to  neutralise  the  effect  of  public  journals 
multiply  them  indefinitely.  I  cannot  conceive  why  a 
trutn  which  is  so  self-evident  has  not  already  been  more 
generally  admitted  in  Europe ;  it  is  comprehensible  that  the 
persons  who  hope  to  bring  about  revolutions,  by  means  of  the 
press,  should  be  desirous  of  confining  its  action  to  a  few 
powerful  organs  ;  but  it  is  perfectly  incredible  that  the  par 
tisans  of  the  existing  state  of  things,  and  the  natural  sup 
porters  of  the  laws,  should  attempt  to  diminish  the  influence 
of  the  press  by  concentrating  its  authority.  The  govern 
ments  of  Europe  seem  to  treat  the  press  with  the  courtesy  of 
the  knights  of  old  j  they  are  anxious  to  furnish  it  with  the 
same  central  power  which  they  have  found  'o  be  so  trusty  a 
weapon,  in  order  to  enhance  the  glory  of  their  resistance  to 
its  attacks. 

In  America  there  is  scarcely  a  hamlet  which  has  not  its 
own  newspaper.  It  may  readily  be  imagined  that  neither 
discipline  nor  unity  of  design  can  be  communicated  to  so 
multifarious  a  host,  and  each  one  is  constantly  led  to  fight 
under  his  own  standard.  All  the  political  journals  of  the 
United  States  are  indeed  arrayed  on  the  side  of  the  adminis 
tration  or  against  it ;  but  they  attack  and  defend  it  in  a  thou 
sand  different  ways.  They  cannot  succeed  in  forming  those 
great  currents  of  opinion  which  overwhelm  the  most  solid 
obstacles.  This  division  of  the  influence  of  the  press  pro 
duces  a  variety  of  other  consequences  which  are  scarcely 
less  remarkable.  The  facility  with  which  journals  can  be 
established  induces  a  multitude  of  individuals  to  take  a  part 
in  them  ;Vbut  as  the  extent  of  competition  precludes  the  pos 
sibility  oi"considerable  profit,  the  most  distinguished  classes 
of  society  are  rarely  led  to  engage  in  these  undertakings. 
But  such  is  the  number  of  the  public  prints,  that  even  if  they 
were  a  source  of  wealth,  writers  of  ability  could  not  be 
found  to  direct  them  all.  The  journalists  of  the  United 
States  are  usually  placed  in  a  very  humble  position,  with  a 
scanty  education,  and  a  vulgar  turn  of  mind.  The  will  of 
the  majority  is  the  most  general  of  laws,  and  it  establishes 
certain  habits  which  form  the  characteristics  of  each  pecu 
liar  class  of  society ;  thus  it  dictates  the  etiquette  practised 
at  courts  and  the  etiquette  of  the  bar.  The  characteristics 
of  the  French  journalist  consist  in  a  violent,  but  frequently 
an  eloquent  and  lofty  manner  of  discussing  the  politics  of 


186  LIBERTY    OF    THE    PRESS 

the  day ;  and  the  exceptions  to  this  habitual  practice  are 
only  occasional.  The  characteristics  of  the  American  jour 
nalist  consist  in  an  open  and  coarse  appeal  to  the  passions  01 
the  populace  ;  and  he  habitually  abandons  the  principles  of 
political  science  to  assail  the  characters  of  individuals,  to 
track  them  into  private  life,  and  disclose  all  their  weaknesses 
and  errors. 

Nothing  can  be  more  deplorable  than  this  abuse  of  the 
powers  of  thought  j  I  shall  have  occasion  to  point  out  here 
after  the  influence  of  the  newspapers  upon  the  taste  and  the 
morality  of  fhe  American  people,  but  my  present  subject  ex 
clusively  concerns  the  political  world.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  effects  of  this  extreme  license  of  the  press  tend  indi 
rectly  to  the  maintenance  of  public  order.  The  individuals 
who  are  already  in  possession  of  a  high  station  in  the  esteem 
of  their  fellow-citizens,  are  afraid  to  write  in  the  newspa 
pers,  and  they  are  thus  deprived  of  the  most  powerful  instru 
ment  which  they  can  use  to  excite  the  passions  of  the  multi 
tude  to  their  own  advantage.* 

The  personal  opinions  of  the  editors  have  no  kind  of  weight 
in  the  eyes  of  the  public  :  the  only  use  of  a  journal  is,  that 
it  imparts  the  knowledge  of  certain  facts,  and  it  is  only  by 
altering  or  distorting  those  facts,  that  a  journalist  can  con 
tribute  to  the  support  of  his  own  views. 

But  although  the  press  is  limited  to  these  resources,  its  influ 
ence  in  America  is  immense.  It  is  the  power  which  impels 
the  circulation  of  political  life  through  all  the  districts  of 
that  vast  territory.  Its  eye  is  constantly  open  to  detect  the 
secret  springs  of  political  designs,  and  to  summon  the  leaders 
of  all  parties  to  the  bar  of  public  opinion.  It  rallies  the  in 
terests  of  the  community  round  certain  principles,  and  it 
draws  up  the  creed  which  factions  adopt ;  for  it  affords  a 
means  of  intercourse  between  parties  which  hear,  and  which 
address  each  other,  without  ever  having  been  in  immediate 
contact.  When  a  great  number  of  the  organs  of  the  press 
adopt  the  same  line  of  conduct,  their  influence  becomes  irre 
sistible  ;  and  public  opinion,  when  it  is  perpetually  assailed 
from  the  same  side,  eventually  yields  to  the  attack.  In  the 
United  States  each  separate  journal  exercises  but  little  author 
ity  :  but  the  power  of  the  periodical  press  is  only  second  to 
that  of  the  people,  f 

*  They  only  write  in  the  papers  when  they  choose  to  address  the 
people  in  their  own  name ;  as,  for  instance,  when  they  are  called  upon 
to  repel  calumnious  imputations,  and  to  correct  a  mis-statement  of 
facts. 

f  See  Appendix  P. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  187 


The  Opinions  which  are  established  in  the  United  States  under  the 
Empire  of  the  Liberty  of  the  Press,  are  frequently  more  firmly 
rooted  than  those  which  are  formed  elsewhere  under  the  Sanction 
of  a  Censor. 

IN  the  United  States  the  democracy  perpetually  raises  fresh 
individuals  to  the  conduct  of  public  affairs  ;  and  the  mea 
sures  of  the  administration  are  consequently  seldom  regu 
lated  by  the  strict  rules  of  consistency  or  of  order.  But  the 
general  principles  of  the  government  are  more  stable,  and 
the  opinions  most  prevalent  in  society  are  generally  more 
durable  than  in  many  other  countries.  When  once  the  Ame 
ricans  have  taken  up  an  idea,  whether  it  be  well  or  ill-founded, 
nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  eradicate  it  from  their  minds. 
The  same  tenacity  of  opinion  has  been  observed  in  England, 
where,  for  the  last  century,  greater  freedom  of  conscience, 
and  more  invincible  prejudices  have  existed,  than  in  all  the 
other  countries  of  Europe.  I  attribute  this  consequence  to  a 
cause  which  may  at  first  sight  appear  to  have  a  very  opposite 
tendency,  namely,  to  the  liberty  of  the  press.  The  nations 
among  which  this  liberty  exists  are  as  apt  to  cling  to  their 
opinions  from  pride  as  from  conviction.  They  cherish  them 
because  they  hold  them  to  be  just,  and  because  they  exer 
cised  their  own  free  will  in  choosing  them ;  and  they  main 
tain  them,  not  only  because  they  are  true,  but  because  they 
are  their  own.  Several  other  reasons  conduce  to  the  same 
end. 

It  was  remarked  by  a  man  of  genius,  that  "  ignorance  lies 
at  the  two  ends  of  knowledge."  Perhaps  it  would  have  been 
more  correct  to  say  that  absolute  convictions  are  to  be  met 
with  at  the  two  extremities,  and  that  doubt  lies  in  the  middle  j 
for  the  human  intellect  may  be  considered  in  three  distinct 
states,  which  frequently  succeed  one  another. 

A  man  believes  implicitly,  because  he  adopts  a  proposition 
without  inquiry.  He  doubts  as  soon  as  he  is  assailed  by  the 
objections  which  his  inquiries  may  have  aroused.  But  he 
frequently  succeeds  in  satisfying  these  doubts,  and  then  he 
begins  to  believe  afresh  :  he  no  longer  lays  hold  on  a  truth  in 
its  most  shadowy  and  uncertain  form,  but  he  sees  it  clearly 
before  him,  and  he  advances  onward  by  the  light  it  gives  him.* 

When  the  liberty  of  the  press  acts  upon  men  who  are  in 
the  first  of  these  three  states,  it  does  not  immediately  disturb 

*  It  may,  however,  be  doubted  whether  this  rational  and  self-guiding 
conviction  arouses  as  much  fervor  or  enthusiastic  devotedness  in  men  as 
their  first  dogmatical  belief. 


198          LIBERTY   OF    THE    PRESS    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

their  habit  of  believing  implicitly  without  investigation,  but 
it  constantly  modifies  the  objects  of  their  intuitive  convictions. 
The  human  mind  continues  to  discern  but  one  point  upon  the 
whole  intellectual  horizon,  and  that  point  is  in  continual  mo 
tion.  Such  are  the  symptoms  of  sudden  revolutions,  and  of 
the  misfortunes  that  are  surQ  to  befall  those  generations  which 
abruptly  adopt  the  unconditional  freedom  of  the  press. 

The  circle  of  novel  ideas  is,  however,  soon  terminated  ; 
the  torch  of  experience  is  upon  them,  and  the  doubt  and 
mistrust  which  their  uncertainty  produces,  become  universal. 
We  may  re*st  assured  that  the  majority  of  mankind  will 
either  believe  they  know  not  wherefore,  or  will  not  know 
what  to  believe.  Few  are  the  beings  who  can  ever  hope  to 
attain  that  state  of  rational  and  independent  conviction  which 
true  knowledge  can  beget,  in  defiance  of  the  attacks  of  doubt. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  in  times  of  great  religious  fer 
vor,  men  sometimes  change  their  religious  opinions ;  where 
as,  in  times  of  general  scepticism,  every  one  clings  to  his  own 
persuasion.  The  same  thing  takes  place  in  politics  under 
the  liberty  of  the  press.  In  countries  where  all  the  theories 
of  social  science  have  been  contested  in  their  turn,  the  citi 
zens  who  have  adopted  one  of  them,  stick  to  it,  not  so  much 
because  they  are  assured  of  its  excellence,  as  because  they  are 
not  convinced  of  the  superiority  of  any  other.  In  the  present 
age  men  are  not  very  ready  to  die  in  defence  of  their  opi 
nions,  but  they  are  rarely  inclined  to  change  them  ;  and  there 
are  fewer  martyrs  as  well  as  fewer  apostates. 

Another  still  more  valid  reason  may  yet  be  adduced : 
when  no  abstract  opinions  are  looked  upon  as  certain,  men 
cling  to  the  mere  propensities  and  external  interest  of  their 
position,  which  are  naturally  more  tangible  and  more  perma 
nent  than  any  opinions  in  the  world. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  easy  solution  whether  the  aristocracy' 
or  the  democracy  is  most  fit  to  govern  a  country.  But  it  is 
certain  that  democracy  annoys  one  part  of  the  community, 
and  that  aristocracy  oppresses  another  part.  When  the 
question  is  reduced  to  the  simple  expression  of  the  struggle 
between  poverty  and  wealth,  the  tendency  of  each  side  of  the 
dispute  becomes  perfectly  evident  without  farther  controversy. 


POLITICAL   ASSOCIATIONS    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.         189 

CHAPTER   XII. 

POLITICAL   ASSOCIATIONS    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Daily  use  which  the  Anglo-Americans  make  of  the  Right  of  Associa 
tion. — Three  kinds  of  political  Association. — In  what  Manner  the 
Americans  apply  the  representative  System  to  Associations. — Dan 
gers  resulting  to  the  State. — Great  Convention  of  1831  relative  to  the 
Tariff.  Legislative  character  of  this  Convention. — Why  the  unlim 
ited  Exercise  of  the  Right  of  Association  is  less  dangerous  in  the 
United  States  than  elsewhere? — Why  it  may  be  looked  upon  as  ne 
cessary. — Utility  of  Associations  in  a  democratic  People. 

IN  no  country  in  the  world  has  the  principle  of  association 
been  more  successfully  used,  or  more  unsparingly  applied  to 
a  multitude  of  different  objects,  than  in  America.  Beside 
the  permanent  associations  which  are  established  by  law 
under  the  names  of  townships,  cities,  and  counties,  a  vast 
number  of  others  are  formed  and  maintained  by  the  agency 
of  private  individuals. 

The  citizen  of  the  United  States  is  taught  from  his  earliest 
infancy  to  rely  upon  his  own  exertions,  in  order  to  resist  the 
evils  and  the  difficulties  of  life  ;  he  looks  upon  the  social 
authority  with  an  eye  of  mistrust  and  anxiety,  and  he  only 
claims  its  assistance  when  he  is  quite  unable  to  shift  without 
it.  This  habit  may  even  be  traced  in  the  schools  of  the 
rising  generation,  where  the  children  in  their  games  are  wont 
to  submit  to  rules  which  they  have  themselves  established, 
and  to  punish  misdemeanors  which  they  have  themselves  de 
fined.  The  same  spirit  pervades  every  act  of  social  life.  If 
a  stoppage  occurs  in  a  thoroughfare,  and  the  circulation  of  the 
public  is  hindered,  the  neighbors  immediately  constitute  a 
deliberative  body ;  and  this  extemporaneous  assembly  gives 
rise  to  an  executive  power,  which  remedies  the  inconvenience, 
before  anybody  has  thought  of  recurring  to  an  authority  su 
perior  to  that  of  the  persons  immediately  concerned.  If  the 
public  pleasures  are  concerned,  an  association  is  formed  to 
provide  for  the  splendor  and  the  regularity  of  the  entertain 
ment.  Societies  are  formed  to  resist  enemies  which  are  ex 
clusively  of  a  moral  nature,  and  to  diminish  the  vice  of 
intemperance :  in  the  United  States  associations  are  estab 
lished  to  promote  public  order,  commerce,  industry,  morality, 
and  religion  ;  for  there  is  no  end  which  the  human  will, 
seconded  by  the  collective  exertions  of  individuals,  despairs 
of  attaining. 


190  POLITICAL    ASSOCIATIONS 

I  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  show  the  effects  of  asso 
ciation  upon  the  course  of  society,  and  I  must  confine  myself 
for  the  present  to  the  political  world.  When  once  the  right 
of  association  is  recognized,  the  citizens  may  employ  it  in 
several  different  ways. 

An  association  consists  simply  in  the  public  assent  which 
a  number  of  individuals  give  to  certain  doctrines ;  and  in  the 
engagement  which  they  contract  to  promote  the  spread  of 
those  doctrines  by  their  exertions.  The  right  of  associating 
with  these  views  is  very  analogous  to  the  liberty  of  unlicensed 
writing  ; ,  but  societies  thus  formed  possess  more  authority 
than  the  press.  When  an  opinion  is  represented  by  a  society, 
it  necessarily  assumes  a  more  exact  and  explicit  form.  It 
numbers  its  partisans,  and  compromises  their  welfare  in  its 
cause  ;  they,  on  the  other  hand,  become  acquainted  with 
each  other,  and  their  zeal  is  increased  by  their  number.  An 
association  unites  the  efforts  of  minds  which  have  a  tendency 
to  diverge,  in  one  single  channel,  and  urges  them  vigorously 
toward  one  single  end  which  it  points  out. 

The  second  degree  in  the  right  of  association  is  the  power 
of  meeting.  When  an  association  is  allowed  to  establish 
centres  of  action  at  certain  important  points  in  the  country, 
its  activity  is  increased,  and  its  influence  extended.  Men 
have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  each  other ;  means  of  execu 
tion  are  more  readily  combined  ;  and  opinions  are  maintained 
with  a  degree  of  warmth  and  energy  which  written  language 
cannot  approach. 

Lastly,  in  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  political  association, 
there  is  a  third  degree  :  the  partisans  of  an  opinion  may  unite 
in  electoral  bodies,  and  choose  delegates  to  represent  them  in 
a  central  assembly.  This  is,  properly  speaking,  the  appli 
cation  of  the  representative  system  to  a  party. 

Thus,  in  the  first  instance,  a  society  is  formed  between  in 
dividuals  professing  the  same  opinion,  and  the  tie  which  keeps 
it  together  is  of  a  purely  intellectual  nature  :  in  the  second 
case,  small  assemblies  are  formed  which  only  represent  a 
fraction  of  the  party.  Lastly,  in  the  third  case,  they  consti 
tute  a  separate  nation  in  the  midst  of  the  nation,  a  govern 
ment  within  the  government.  Their  delegates,  like  the  real 
delegates  of  the  majority,  represent  the  entire  collective  force 
of  their  party  ;  and  they  enjoy  a  certain  degree  of  that 
national  dignity  and  great  influence  which  belong  to  the 
chosen  representatives  of  the  people.  It  is  true  that  they 
have  not  the  right  of  making  the  laws  ;  but  they  have  the 
power  of  attacking  those  which  are  in  being,  and  of  drawing 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  191 

up  beforehand  those  which  they  may  afterward  cause  to  be 
adopted. 

If,  in  a  people  which  is  imperfectly  accustomed  to  the  ex 
ercise  of  freedom,  or  which  is  exposed  to  violent  political 
passions,  a  deliberating  minority,  which  confines  itself  to  the 
contemplation  of  future  laws,  be  placed  in  juxtaposition  to  the 
legislative  majority,  I  cannot  but  believe  that  public  tranquil- 
lity  incurs  very  great  risks  in  that  nation.  There  is  doubtless  a 
very  wide  difference  between  proving  that  one  law  is  in  itself 
better  than  another,  and  proving  that  the  former  ought  to  be 
substituted  for  the  latter.  But  the  imagination  of  the  popu 
lace  is  very  apt  to  overlook  this  difference,  which  is  so  appa 
rent  in  the  minds  of  thinking  men.  It  sometimes  happens 
that  a  nation  is  divided  into  two  nearly  equal  parties,  each  of 
which  affects  to  represent  the  majority.  If,  in  immediate 
contiguity  to  the  directing  power,  another  power  be  estab 
lished,  which  exercises  almost  as  much  moral  authority  as 
the  former,  it  is  not  to  be  believed  that  it  will  long  be  content 
to  speak  without  acting ;  or  that  it  will  always  be  restrained 
by  the  abstract  consideration  of  the  nature  of  associations, 
which  are  meant  to  direct,  but  not  to  enforce  opinions,  to 
suggest  but  not  to  make  the  laws. 

The  more  we  consider  the  independence  of  the  press  in  its 
principal  consequences,  the  more  are  we  convinced  that  it  is 
the  chief,  and,  so  to  speak,  the  constitutive  element  of  freedom 
in  the  modern  world.  A  nation  which  is  determined  to  re 
main  free,  is  therefore  right  in  demanding  the  unrestrained 
exercise  of  this  independence.  But  the  unrestrained  liberty 
of  political  association  cannot  be  entirely  assimilated  to  the 
liberty  of  the  press.  The  one  is  at  the  same  time  less  neces 
sary  and  more  dangerous  than  the  other.  A  nation  may 
confine  it  within  certain  limits  without  forfeiting  any  part  of 
its  self-control ;  and  it  may  sometimes  be  obliged  to  do  so  in 
order  to  maintain  its  own  authority. 

In  America  the  liberty  of  association  for  political  purposes 
is  unbounded.  An  example  will  show  in  the  clearest  light  to 
what  an  extent  this  privilege  is  tolerated. 

The  question  of  the  Tariff,  or  of  free  trade,  produced  a 
great  manifestation  of  party  feeling  in  America  ;  the  tariff 
was  not  only  a  subject  of  debate  as  a  matter  of  opinion,  but 
it  exercised  a  favorable  or  a  prejudicial  influence  upon  seve 
ral  very  powerful  interests  of  thestates.  The  north  attribut 
ed  a  great  portion  of  its  prosperity,  and  the  south  all  its  suf 
ferings,  to  this  system.  Insomuch,  that  for  a  long  time  the 


L 


192  POLITICAL    ASSOCIATIONS 

tariff  was  the  sole  source  of  the  political  animosities   which 
agitated  the  Union. 

In  1831,  when  the  dispute  was  raging  with  the  utmost  viru 
lence,  a  private  citizen  of  Massachusetts  proposed  to  all  the 
enemies  of  the  tariff,  by  means  of  the  public  prints,  to  send 
delegates  to  Philadelphia  in  order  to  consult  together  upon 
the  means  which  were  most  fitted  to  promote  the  freedom  of 
trade.  This  proposal  circulated  in  a  few  days  from  Maine 
to  Ne\v  Orleans  by  the  power  of  the  printing  press:  the  op 
ponents  of  the  tariff  adopted  ft  with  enthusiasm  ;  meetings 
were  formed  on  all  sides,  and  delegates  were  named.  The 
majority  of  these  individuals  were  well  known,  and  some  of 
them  had  earned  a  considerable  degree  of  celebrity.  South  Ca 
rolina  alone,  which  afterward  took  up  arms  in  the  same  cause, 
sent  sixty-three  delegates.  On  the  1st  October,  1831,  this 
assembly,  which,  according  to  the  American  custom,  had 
taken  the  name  of  a  convention,  met  at  Philadelphia  ;  it  con 
sisted  of  more  than  two  hundred  members.  Its  debates  were 
public,  and  they  at  once  assumed  a  legislative  character ;  the 
extent  of  the  powers  of  congress,  the  theories  of  free  trade, 
and  the  different  clauses  of  the  tariff,  were  discussed  in  turn. 
At  the  end  of  ten  days'  deliberation,  the  convention  broke  up, 
after  having  published  an  address  to  the  American  people,  in 
which  it  is  declared  : 

I.  The  congress  had  not  the  right  of  making  a  tariff,  and 
that  the  existing  tariff  was  unconstitutional. 

II.  That  the  prohibition  of  free  trade  was  prejudicial  to 
the  interests  of  all  nations,  and  to  that  of  the  American  peo 
ple  in  particular. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  unrestrained  liberty  of 
political  association  has  not  hitherto  produced,  in  the  United 
States,  those  fatal  consequences  which  might  perhaps  be  ex 
pected  from  it  elsewhere.  The  right  of  association  was  im 
ported  from  England,  and  it  has  always  existed  in  America. 
So  that  the  exercise  of  this  privilege  is  now  amalgamated 
with  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people.  At  the  pre 
sent  time,  the  liberty  of  association  is  become  a  necessary 
guarantee  against  the  tyranny  of  the  majority.  In  the  Uni 
ted  States,  as  soon  as  a  party  has  become  preponderant,  all 
the  public  authority  passes  under  its  control  ;  its  private  sup 
porters  occupy  all  the  places,  and  have  all  the  force  of  the 
administration  at  their  disposal.  As  the  most  distinguished 
partisans  of  the  other  side  of  the  question  are  unable  to  sur 
mount  the  obstacles  which  exclude  them  from  power,  they 
require  some  means  of  establishing  themselves  upon  their  own 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  193 

basis,  and  of  opposing  the  moral  authority  of  the  minority  to 
the  physical  power  which  domineers  over  it.  Thus,  a  dan 
gerous  expedient  is  used  to  obviate  a  still  more  formidable 
danger. 

The  omnipotence  of  the  majority  appears  to  me  to  present 
such  extreme  perils  to  the  American  republics,  that  the  dan. 
gerous  measure  which  is  used  to  repress  it,  seems  to  be  more 
advantageous  than  prejudicial.  And  here  I  am  about  to  ad 
vance  a  proposition  which  may  remind  the  reader  of  what  I 
said  before  in  speaking  of  municipal  freedom.  There  are 
no  countries  in  which  associations  are  more  needed,  to  pre 
vent  the  despotism  of  faction,  or  the  arbitrary  power  of  a 
prince,  than  those  which  are  democratically  constituted.  In 
aristocratic  nations,  the  body  of  the  nobles  and  the  more  opu 
lent  part  of  the  community  are  in  themselves  natural  associa 
tions,  which  act  as  checks  upon  the  abuses  of  power.  In 
countries  in  which  those  associations  do  not  exist,  if  private 
individuals  are  unable  to  create  an  artificial  and  a  temporary 
substitute  for  them,  I  can  imagine  no  permanent  protection 
against  the  most  galling  tyranny  ;  and  a  great  people  may  be 
oppressed  by  a  small  faction,  or  by  a  single  individual,  with 
impunity. 

The  meeting  of  a  great  political  convention  (for  there  are 
conventions  of  all  kinds),  which  may  frequently  become  a 
necessary  measure,  is  always  a  serious  occurrence,  even  in 
America,  and  one  which  is  never  looked  forward  to  by  the 
judicious  friends  of  the  country,  without  alarm.  This  was 
very  perceptible  in  the  convention  of  1831,  at  which  the  ex 
ertions  of  all  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  assembly 
tended  to  moderate  its  language,  and  to  restrain  the  subjects 
which  it  treated  within  certain  limits.  It  is  probable,  in  fact, 
that  the  convention  of  1831  exercised  a  very  great  influence 
upon  the  minds  of  the  malecontents,  and  prepared  them  for 
the  open  revolt  against  the  commercial  laws  of  the  Union, 
which  took  place  in  1832. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  unrestrained  liberty  of  associa 
tion  for  political  purposes,  is  the  privilege  which  a  people  is 
longest  in  learning  how  to  exercise.  If  it  does  not  throw  the 
nation  into  anarchy,  it  perpetually  augments  the  chances  of 
that  calamity.  On  one  point,  however,  this  perilous  liberty 
offers  a  security  against  dangers  of  another  kind ;  in  coun 
tries  where  associations  are  free,  secret  societies  are  unknown. 
In  America  there  are  numerous  factions,  but  no  conspi 
racies. 

13 


194  POLITICAL    ASSOCIATIONS 


Different  ways  in  which  the  Right  of  Association  is  understood  in 
Europe  and  in  the  United  States.  Different  use  which  is  made 
of  it. 

THE  most  natural  privilege  of  man,  next  to  the  right  of 
acting  for  himself,  is  that  of  combining  his  exertions  with 
those  of  his  fellow-creatures,  and  of  acting  in  common  with 
them.  I  am  therefore  led  to  conclude,  that  the  right  of  asso 
ciation  is  almost  as  inalienable  as  the  right  of  personal  liberty. 
No  legislator  can  attack  it  without  impairing  the  very  foun 
dations  of  society.  Nevertheless,  if  the  liberty  of  associa 
tion  is  a  fruitful  source  of  advantages  and  prosperity  to  some 
nations,  it  may  be  perverted  or  carried  to  excess  by  others, 
and  the  element  of  life  may  be  changed  into  an  element  of 
destruction.,  A  comparison  of  the  different  methods  which 
associations  pursue,  in  those  countries  in  which  they  are 
managed  with  discretion,  as  well  as  in  those  where  liberty 
degenerates  into  license,  may  perhaps  be  thought  useful  both 
to  governments  and  to  parties.  The  greater  part  of  Euro 
peans  look  upon  an  association  as  a  weapon  which  is  to  be 
hastily  fashioned,  and  immediately  tried  in  the  conflict.  A 
society  is  to  be  formed  for  discussion,  but  the  idea  of  impend 
ing  action  prevails  in  the  minds  of  those  who  constitute  it : 
it  is,  in  fact,  an  army  ;  and  the  time  given  to  parley,  serves  to 
reckon  up  the  strength  and  to  animate  the  courage  of  the 
host,  after  which  they  direct  the  march  against  the  enemy. 
Resources  which  lie  within  the  bounds  of  the  law  may  sug 
gest  themselves  to  the  persons  who  compose  it,  as  means,  but 
never  as  the  only  means,  of  success. 

Such,  however,  is  not  the  manner  in  which  the  right  of  as 
sociation  is  understood  in  the  United  States.  In  America, 
the  citizens  who  form  the  minority  associate,  in  order,  in  the 
first  place,  to  show  their  numerical  strength,  and  so  to  dimin 
ish  the  moral  authority  of  the  majority  ;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  to  stimulate  competition,  and  to  discover  those  argu 
ments  which  are  most  fitted  to  act  upon  the  majority ;  for 
they  always  entertain  hopes  of  drawing  over  their  opponents 
to  their  own  side,  and  of  afterward  disposing  of  the  supreme 
power  in  their  name.  Political  associations  in  the  United 
States  are  therefore  peaceable  in  their  intentions,  and  strictly 
legal  in  the  means  which  they  employ  ;  and  they  assert  with 
perfect  truth,  that  they  only  aim  at  success  by  lawful  ex 
pedients. 

The  difference  which  exists  between  the  Americans  and 
*  irselves  depends  on  several  causes.  In  Europe  there  are 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  195 

numerous  parties  so  diametrically  opposed  to  the  majority, 
that  they  can  never  hope  to  acquire  its  support,  and  at  the 
same  time  they  think  that  they  are  sufficiently  strong  in  them 
selves  to  struggle  and  to  defend  their  cause.  When  a  party 
of  this  kind  forms  an  association,  its  object  is,  not  to  conquer, 
but  to  fight.  In  America,  the  individuals  who  hold  opinions 
very  much  opposed  to  those  of  the  majority,  are  no  sort  of 
impediment  to  its  power ;  and  all  other  parties  hope  to  win  it 
over  to  their  own  principles  in  the  end.  The  exercise  of  the 
right  of  association  becomes  dangerous  in  proportion  to  the 
impossibility  which  excludes  great  parties  from  acquiring  the 
majority.  In  a  country  like  the  United  States,  in  which  the 
differences  of  opinion  are  mere  differences  of  hue,  the  right 
of  association  may  remain  unrestrained  without  evil  conse 
quences.  The  inexperience  of  many  of  the  European  nations 
in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty,  leads  them  only  to  look  upon  the 
liberty  of  association  as  a  right  of  attacking  the  government. 
The  first  notion  which  presents  itself  to  a  party,  as  well  as  to 
an  individual,  when  it  has  acquired  a  consciousness  of  its  own 
strength,  is  that  of  violence  :  the  notion  of  persuasion  arises 
at  a  later  period,  and  is  only  derived  from  experience.  The 
English,  who  are  divided  into  parties  which  differ  most  essen 
tially  from  each  other,  rarely  abuse  the  right  of  association, 
because  they  have  long  been  accustomed  to  exercise  it.  In 
France,  the  passion  for  war  is  so  intense  that  there  is  no  un 
dertaking  so  mad,  or  so  injurious  to  the  welfare  of  the  state, 
that  a  man  does  not  consider  himself  honored  in  defending  it, 
at  the  risk  of  his  life. 

But  perhaps  the  most  powerful  of  the  causes  which  tend 
to  mitigate  the  excesses  of  political  association  in  the  United 
States  is  universal  suffrage.  In  countries  in  which  universal 
suffrage  exists,  the  majority  is  never  doubtful,  because  neither 
party  can  pretend  to  represent  that  portion  of  the  community 
which  has  not  voted.  The  associations  which  are  formed 
are  aware,  as  well  as  the  nation  at  large,  that  they  do  not 
represent  the  majority ;  this  is,  indeed,  a  condition  insepara 
ble  from  their  existence  ;  for  if  they  did  represent  the  pre 
ponderating  power,  they  would  change  the  law  instead  of 
soliciting  its  reform.  The  consequence  of  this  is,  that  the 
moral  influence  of  the  government  which  they  attack  is  very 
much  increased,  and  their  own  power  is  very  much  en- 
feebled. 

In  Europe  there  are  few  associations  which  do  not  affect  to 
represent  the  majority,  or  which  do  not  believe  that  they  re 
present  it.  This  conviction  or  this  pretension  tends  to  aug 


198        POLITICAL    ASSOCIATIONS    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

ment  their  force  amazingly,  and  contributes  no  less  to  legalize 
their  measures.  Violence  may  seem  to  be  excusable  in 
defence  of  the  cause  of  oppressed  right.  Thus  it  is,  in  the 
vast  labyrinth  of  human  laws,  that  extreme  liberty  sometimes 
corrects  abuses  of  license,  and  that  extreme  democracy  obvi 
ates  the  dangers  of  democratic  government.  In  Europe, 
associations  consider  themselves,  in  some  degree,  as  the  legis 
lative  and  executive  councils  of  the  people,  which  is  unable 
to  speak  for  itself.  In  America,  where  they  only  represent  a 
minority  of  the  nation,  they  argue  and  they  petition. 

The  meajis  which  the  associations  of  Europe  employ,  are 
in  accordance  with  the  end  which  they  propose  to  obtain.  As 
the  principal  aim  of  these  bodies  is  to  act,  and  not  to  debate, 
to  fight  rather  than  to  persuade,  they  are  naturally  led  to 
adopt  a  form  of  organization  which  differs  from  the  ordinary 
customs  of  civil  bodies,  and  which  assumes  the  habits  and 
the  maxims  of  military  life.  They  centralize  the  direction 
of  their  resources  as  much  as  possible,  and  they  intrust  the 
power  of  the  whole  party  to  a  very  small  number  of  leaders. 

The  members  of  these  associations  reply  to  a  watchword,  like 
soldiers  on  duty  :  they  profess  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedi 
ence  ;  say  rather,  that  in  uniting  together  they  at  once  abjure 
the  exercise  of  their  own  judgment  and  free  will ;  and  the 
tyrannical  control,  which  these  societies  exercise,  is  often  far 
more  insupportable  than  the  authority  possessed  over  society 
by  the  government  which  they  attack.  Their  moral  force  is 
much  diminished  by  these  excesses,  and  they  lose  the  power 
ful  interest  which  is  always  excited  by  a  struggle  between 
oppressors  and  the  oppressed.  The  man  who  in  given  cases 
consents  to  obey  his  fellows  with  servility,  and  who  submits 
his  activity,  and  even  his  opinions,  to  their  control,  can  have 
no  claim  to  rank  as  a  free  citizen. 

The  Americans  have  also  established  certain  forms  of  gov 
ernment  which  are  applied  to  their  associations,  but  these  are 
invariably  borrowed  from  the  forms  of  the  civil  administra 
tion.  The  independence  of  each  individual  is  formally  recog 
nized  ;  the  tendency  of  the  members  of  the  association  points, 
as  it  does  in  the  body  of  the  community,  toward  the  same 
end,  but  they  are  not  obliged  to  follow  the  same  track.  No 
one  abjures  the  exercise  of  his  reason  and  his  free  will ;  but 
every  tme  exerts  that  reason  and  that  will  for  the  benefit  of  a 
common  undertaking. 


GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    DEMOCRACY    IN   AMERICA.  197 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA. 

I  AM  well  aware  of  the  difficulties  which  attend  this  part  of 
my  subject,  but  although  every  expression  which  I  am  about 
to  make  use  of  may  clash,  upon  some  one  point,  with  the 
feelings  of  the  different  parties  which  divide  my  country,  I 
shall  speak  my  opinion  with  the  most  perfect  openness. 

In  Europe  we  are  at  a  loss  how  to  judge  the  true  character 
and  the  more  permanent  propensities  of  democracy,  because 
in  Europe  two  conflicting  principles  exist,  and  we  do  not 
know  what  to  attribute  to  the  principles  themselves,  and  what 
to  refer  to  the  passions  which  they  bring  into  collision.  Such, 
however,  is  not  the  case  in  America ;  there  the  people  reigns 
without  any  obstacle,  and  it  has  no  perils  to  dread,  and  no  in 
juries  to  avenge.  In  America,  democracy  is  swayed  by  its 
own  free  propensities ;  its  course  is  natural,  and  its  activity 
is  unrestrained  :  the  United  States  consequently  afford  the 
most  favorable  opportunity  of  studying  its  real  character. 
And  to  no  people  can  this  inquiry  be  more  vitally  interesting 
than  to  the  French  nation,  which  is  blindly  driven  onward  by 
a  daily  and  irresistible  impulse,  toward  a  state  of  things 
which  may  prove  either  despotic  or  republican,  but  which  will 
assuredly  be  democratic. 


UNIVERSAL   SUFFRAGE. 

I  HAVE  already  observed  that  universal  suffrage  has  been 
adopted  in  all  the  states  of  the  Union  :  it  consequently  occurs 
among  different  populations  which  occupy  very  different  posi 
tions  in  the  scale  of  society.  I  have  had  opportunities  of  ob 
serving  its  effects  in  different  localities,  and  among  races  of 
men  who  are  nearly  strangers  to  each  other  by  their  lan 
guage,  their  religion,  and  their  manner  of  life  ;  in  Louisiana 
as  well  as  in  New  England,  in  Georgia  and  in  Canada.  I 
have  remarked  that  universal  suffrage  is  far  from  producing 
in  America  either  all  the  good  or  all  the  evil  consequences 
which  are  assigned  to  it  in  Europe,  and  that  its  effects  differ 
very  widely  from  those  which  are  usually  attributed  to  it. 


198  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 


CHOICE    OF    THE    PEOPLE,   AND  INSTINCTIVE    PREFERENCES    OF 
THE    AMERICAN    DEMOCRACY. 

In  the  United  States  the  most  talented  Individuals  are  rarely  placed  at 
the  Head  of  Affairs.  —  Reasons  of  this  Peculiarity.  —  The  Eny.y  which 
prevails  in  the  lower  Orders  of  France  against  the  higher  Classes,  is 
not  a  French,  but  a  pjijrely  democratic  Sentiment.  —  For  what  Reason 
the  most  distinguished  Men  in  America  frequently  seclude  them 
selves  from  public  affairs. 

MANY  people  in  Europe  are  apt  to  believe  without  saying  it, 
or  to  say  without  believing  it,  that  one  of  the  great  advantages 
of  universal  suffrage  is,  that  it  intriistg^thft  dTr.qntion  o/  public 


affairs  to  men  who  are  worthy  of  the  public  confidence.  They 
admit  that  the  people  is  unable  to  govern  for  itself,  but  they 
aver  that  it  is  always  sincerely  .disposed  to  promote  the  wel 
fare  of  the  state,  and  that  it  Distinctively  designates  those 
persons  who  are  animated  by  the  same  good  wi»l^es,  and  who 
are  the  most  fit  to  wield  the  supreme  authority^  I  confess 
that  the  observations  I  made  in  America  by  no  means  coincide 
with  these  opinions.  On  my  arrival  in  the  United  States  I 
was  surprised  to  find  so  much  distinguished  talent  among  the 
subjects,  and  so  little  among  the  heads  of  the  government.  It 
is  a  well-authenticated  fact,  that  at  the  present  day  the 
<^most  talented  men  in  the  United  States  are  very  rarely  placed 
at  the  head  of  affairs  J^and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
such  has  been  the  result,  in  proportion  as  democracy  has  out 
stepped  all  its  former  limits.  The  race  of  American  states 
men  has  evidently  dwindled  most  remarkably  in  the  course 
of  the  last  fifty  years. 

Several  causes  may  be  assigned  to  this  phenomenon.  It 
is  impossible,  notwithstanding  the  most  strenuous  exertions, 
to  raise  the  intelligence  of  the  people  above  a  certain  level. 
Whatever  may  be  the  facilities  of  acquiring  information, 
whatever^may  be  the  profusion  of  easy  methods  and  of  cheap 
science)<jhe  human  mind  can  never  be  instructed  and  edu 
cated  without  devoting  a  considerable  space  of  time  to  those 
objects  y> 

The  greater  or  the  lesser  possibility  of  subsisting  without 
labor  is  therefore  the  necessary  boundary  of  intellectual  im 
provement.  This  boundary  is  more  remote  in  some  coun 
tries,  and  more  restricted  in  others  ;  but  it  must  exist  some 
where  as  long  as  the  people  is  constrained  to  work  in  order 
to  procure  the  means  of  physical  subsistence,  that  is  to  say, 
as  long  as  it  retains  its  popular  character.  It  is  therefore 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  199 

quite  as  difficult  to  imagine  a  state  in  which  all  the  citizens 
should  be  very  well-informed,  as  a  state  in  which  they  should 
all  be  wealthy  ;  these  two  difficulties  may  be  looked  upon  as 
correlative.  It  may  very  readily  be  admitted  that  the  mass 
of  the  citizens  are  sincerely  disposed  to  promote  the  welfare 
'of  their  country  ;  nay  more,  it  may  even  be  allowed  that  the 
lower  classes  are  less  apt  to  be  swayed  by  considerations  of 
personal  interest  than  the  higher  orders  ;  but  it  is  always 
more  or  less  impossible  for  them  to  discern  the  best  means 
of  attaining  the  end,  which  they  desire  with  sincerity. 
Long  and  patient  observation,  joined  to  a  multitude  of  diffe 
rent  notions,  is  required  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  the  cha 
racter  of  a  single  individual  ;  and  can  it  be  supposed  that 
the  vulgar  have  the  power  of  succeeding  in  an  inquiry  which 
misleads  the  penetration  of  genius  itself?  The  people  has 
neither  the  time  nor  the  means  which  are  essential  to  the 
prosecution  of  an  investigation  of  this  kind  ;  its  conclusions 
are  hastily  formed  from  a  superficial  inspection  of  the  more 
prominent  features  of  a  question.  Hence  it  often  assents  to 
the  clamor  of  a  mountebank,  who  knows  the  secret  of  stimu 
lating  its  tastes  ;  while  its  truest  friends  frequently  fail  in 
their  exertions. 

Moreover,  the  democracy  is  not  only  deficient  in  that 
soundness  of  judgment  which  is  necessary  to  select  men 
really  deserving  of  its  confidence,  but  it  has  neither  the  de 
sire  nor  the  inclination  to  find  them  out.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  democratic  institutions  have  a  very  strong  tendencyito 
promote  the  feeling  of  envy  in  the  human  hpn.rt.  •  not  so  much 
because  they  afford  to  every  one  the  means  of  rising  to  the 
level  of  any  of  his  fellow-citizens,  as  because  those  means 
perpetually  disappoint  the  persons  who  employ  them.  ••(De 
mocratic  institutions  awaken  and  foster  a^passion  for  equality 
which  they  can  never  entirely  satisfy^  This  complete 
equality  eludes  the  grasp  of  the  people  at  the  very  moment 
when  it  thinks  to  hold  it  fast,  and  "  flies,"  as  Pascal  says, 
"  with  eternal  flight ;"  the  people  is  excited  in  the  pursuit  of 
an  advantage,  which  is  the  more  precious  because  it  is  not 
sufficiently  remote  to  be  unknown,  or  sufficiently  near  to  be 
enjoyed.  The  lower  orders  are  agitated  by  the  chance  of 
success,  they  are  irritated  by  its  uncertainty  ;  and  they  pass 
from  the  enthusiasm  of  pursuit  to  the  exhaustion  of  ill-suc 
cess,  and  lastly  to  the  acrimony  of  disappointment.  What 
ever  transcends  their  own  limits  appears  to  be  an  obstacle  to 
their  desires,  and  tji^rg  [g  po  klmi  nf  superiority,  hovvever 
legitimate  it  may  be,  which  is  not  Irksome  in  their  sight 


200  GOVERNMENT   OF    THE 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  secret  instinct,  which  leads 
the  lower  orders  to  remove  their  superiors  as  much  as  possi 
ble  from  the  direction  of  public  affairs,  is  peculiar  to  France. 
This,  however,  is  an  error ;  the  propensity  to  which  I  allude 
is  not  inherent  in  any  particular  nation,  but  in  democratic 
institutions  in  general ;  and  although  it  may  have  been 
heightened  by  peculiar  political  circumstances,  it  owes  its 
origin  to  a  higher  cause. 

In  the  United  States,  the  people  is  not  disposed  to  hate  the 
superior  class  of  society  ;  but  it  is  not  very  favorably  in 
clined  toward  them,  and  it  carefully  excludes  them  from  the 
exercise  of  authority.  It  does  not  entertain  any  dread  of  dis 
tinguished  talents,  but  it  is  rarely  captivated  by  them ;  and  it 
awards  its  approbation  very  sparingly  to  such  as  have  risen 
without  the  popular  support. 

While  the  natural  propensities  of  democracy  induce  the 
people  to  reject  the  most  distinguished  citizens  as  its  rulers, 
these  individuals  are  no  less  apt  to  retire  from  a  political 
career,  in  which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  retain  their  inde 
pendence,  or  to  advance  without  degrading  themselves. 
This  opinion  has  been  very  candidly  set  forth  by  Chancellor 
Kent,  who  says,  in  speaking  with  great  eulogium  of  that 
part  of  the  constitution  which  empowers  the  executive  to 
nominate  the  judges :  "  It  is  indeed  probable  that  the  men 
who  are  best  fitted  to  discharge  the  duties  of  this  high  office 
would  have  too  much  reserve  in  their  manners,  and  too  much 
austerity  in  their  principles;  for  them  to  be  returned  by  the 
majority  at  an  election  where  universal  suffrage  is  adopted." 
Such  were  the  opinions  which  were  printed  without  contra 
diction  in  America  in  the  year  1830. 

I  hold  it  to  be  sufficiently  demonstrated,  that  universal 
suffrage  is  by  no  means  a  guarantee  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
popular  choice ;  and  tha  c  whatever  its  advantages  may  be, 
this  is  not  one  of  them. 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  201 


CAUSES    WHICH   MAY   PARTLY    CORRECT     THESE    TENDENCIES    OF 
THE    DEMOCRACY. 

Contrary  Effects  produced  on  Peoples  as  well  as  on  individuals  by 
great  Dangers. — Why  so  many  distinguished  Men  stood  at  the  Head 
of  Affairs  in  America  fifty  Years  ago. — Influence  which  the  intelli 
gence  and  the  Manners  of  the  People  exercise  upon  its  choice. — 
Example  of  New  England. — States  of  the  Southwest — Influence  of 
certain  Laws  upon  the  Choice  of  the  People. — Election  by  an  elected 
Body. — Its  Effects  upon  the  Composition  of  the  Senate. 

WHEN  a  state  is  threatened  by  serious  dangers,  the_peoplc 
frequently  succeed  in  selecting  the  citizens  who  are_  .the  most 
able  to  save  it.  It  has  been  observed  that  man  rarely  retains 
his  customary  level  in  presence  of  very  critical  circum 
stances  ;  he  rises  above,  or  he  sinks  below,  his  usual  condi 
tion,  and  the  same  thing  occurs  in  nations  at  large.  Extreme 
perils  sometimes  quench  the  energy  of  a  people  instead  of 
stimulating  it ;  they  excite  without  directing  its  passions ; 
and  instead  of  clearing,  they  confuse  its  powers  of  perception. 
The  Jews  deluged  the  smoking  ruins  of  their  temples  with 
the  carnage  of  the  remnant  of  their  host.  But  it  is  more 
common,  both  in  the  case  of  nations  and  in  that  of  individuals, 
to  find  extraordinary  virtues  arising  from  the  very  imminence 
of  the  danger.  Great  characters  are  then  thrown  into  relief, 
as  the  edifices  which  are  concealed  by  the  gloom  of  night, 
are  illuminated  by  the  glare  of  a  conflagration.  At  those 
dangerous  times  genius  no  longer  abstains  from  presenting 
itself  in  the  arena  ;  and  the  people,  alarmed  by  the  perils  of 
its  situation,  buries  its  envious  passions  in  a  short  oblivion. 
Great  names  may  then  be  drawn  from  the  urn  of  an  elec 
tion. 

I  have  already  observed  that  the  American  statesmen  of 
the  present  day  are  very  inferior  to  those  who  stood  at  the 
head  of  affairs  fifty  years  ago.  This  is  as  much  a  conse 
quence  of  the  circumstances,  as  of  the  laws  of  the  country. 
When  America  was  struggling  in  the  high  cause  of  indepen 
dence  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  another  country,  and  when  it 
was  about  to  usher  a  new  nation  into  the  world,  the  spirits  of 
its  inhabitants  were  roused  to  trie  height  which  their  great 
efforts  required.  In  this  general  excitement,  the  most  distin 
guished  men  were  ready  to  forestall  the  wants  of  the  commu 
nity,  and  the  people  clung  to  them  for  support,  and  placed 
them  at  its  head.  But  events  of  this  magnitude  are  rare ; 
and  it  is  from  an  inspection  of  the  ordinary  course  of  affairs 
that  our  judgment  must  be  formed. 


202  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

If  passing  occurrences  sometimes  act  as  checks  upon  the 
passions  of  democracy,  the  intelligence  and  the  manners  of 
the  community  exercise  an  influence  which  is  not  less  pow 
erful,  and  far  more  permanent.  This  is  extremely  percepti 
ble  in  the  United  States. 

In  New  England  the  education  and  the  liberties  of  the 
communities  were  engendered  by  the  moral  and  religious 
principles  of  their  founders.  Where  society  has  acquired  a 
sufficient  degree  qf  stability  to  enable  .it  to  hold  certain  max 
ims  and  to  retain  fixed  habits,  the  lower  orders  are  accustomed 
to  respect  intellectual  superiority,  and  to  submit  to  it  without 
complaint,  *  although  they  set  at  naught  all  those  privileges 
which  wealth  and  birth  have  introduced  among  mankind. 
The  democracy  in  New  England  consequently  makes  a  more 
judicious  choice  than  it  does  elsewhere. 

But  as  we  descend  toward  the  south,  to  those  states  in 
which  the  constitution  of  society  is  more  modern  and  less 
strong,  where  instruction  is  less  general,  and  where  the  prin 
ciples  of  morality,  of  religion,  and  of  liberty,  are  less  happily 
combined,  we  perceive  that  the  talents  and  the  virtues  of 
those  who  are  in  authority  become  more  and  more  rare. 

Lastly,  when  we  arrive  at  the  new  southwestern  states,  in 
which  the  constitution  of  society  dates  but  from  yesterday, 
and  presents  an  agglomeration  of  adventurers  and  speculators, 
we  are  amazed  at  the  persons  who  are  invested  with  public 
authority,  and  we  are  led  to  ask  by  what  force,  independent 
of  the  legislation  and  of  the  men  who  direct  it,  the  state  can 
be  protected,  and  society  be  made  to  flourish. 

There  are  certain  laws  of  a  democratic  nature  which  con 
tribute,  nevertheless,  to  correct,  in  some  measure,  the  danger 
ous  tendencies  of  democracy.  On  entering  the  house  of 
representatives  at  Washington,  one  is  struck  by  the  vulgar 
demeanor  of  that  great  assembly.  The  eye  frequently  does 
not  discover  a  man  of  celebrity  within  its  walls.  Its  mem 
bers  are  almost  all  obscure  individuals,  whose  names  present 
no  associations  to  the  mind  :  they  are  mostly  village-lawyers, 
men  in  trade,  or  even  persons  belonging  to  the  lower  classes 
of  society.  In  a  country  in  which  education  is  very  general, 
it  is  said  that  the  representatives  of  the  people  do  not  always 
know  how  to  write  correctly. 

At  a  few  yards  distance  from  this  spot  is  the  door  of  the 
senate,  which  contains  within  a  small  space  a  large  propor 
tion  of  the  celebrated  men  of  America.  Scarcely  an  indi 
vidual  is  to  be  perceived  in  it  who  does  not  recall  the  idea  of 
an  active  and  illustrious  career:  the  senate  is  composed  of 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  203 

eloquent  advocates,  distinguished  generals,  wise  magistrates, 
and  statesmen  of  note,  whose  language  would  at  all  times  do 
honor  to  the  most  remarkable  parliamentary  debates  of  Eu<. 
rope. 

What  then  is  the  cause  of  this  strange  contrast,  and  why 
are  the  most  able  citizens  to  be  found  in  one  assembly  rather 
than  in  the  other  ?  Why  is  the  former  body  remarkable  for 
its  vulgarity  and  its  poverty  of  talent,  while  the  latter  seems 
to  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  intelligence  and  of  sound  judgment  ? 
Both  of  these  assemblies  emanate  from  the  people ;  both  of 
them  are  chosen  by  universal  suffrage  ;  and  no  voice  has 
hitherto  been  heard  to  assert,  in  America,  that  the  senate  is 
hostile  to  the  interests  of  the  people.  From  what  cause,  then, 
does  so  startling  a  difference  arise  ?  The  only  reason  which 
appears  to  me  adequately  to  account  for  it  is,  that  the  house 
of  representatives  is  elected  by  the  populace  dJ^ctly,  and 
that  of  the  senate  is  elected  by  elentp^  hodips.  The  whole 
body  of  the  citizens  names  the  legislature  of  each  state,  and 
the  federal  constitution  converts  these  legislatures  into  so  many 
electoral  bodies,  which  return  the  members  of  the  senate. 

\The  senators  are  elected  by  an  indirect  application  of  univer 
sal  suffragK:  for  the  legislatures  which  name  them  are  not 
aristocratic  "or  privileged  bodies  which  exercise  the  electoral 
franchise  in  their  own  right ;  but  they  are  chosen  by  the 
totality  of  the  citizens ;  they  are  generally  elected  every 
year,  and  new  members  may  constantly  be  chosen,  who  will 
employ  their  electoral  rights  in  conformity  with  the  wishes  of 
the  public.  <But  this  transmission  of  the  popular  authority 
through  an  assembly  of  chosen  men,  operates  an  important 
change  in  it,  by  refining  its  discretion  and  improving  the  forms 

.which  it  adopts">  Men  who  are  chosen  in  this  manner,  accu 
rately  represent  the  majority  of  the  nation  which  governs 
them  ;  but  they  represent  the  elevated  thoughts  which  are 
current  in  the  community,  the  generous  propensities  which 
prompt  its  nobler  actions,  rather  than  the  petty  passions  which 
disturb,  or  the  vices  which  disgrace  it. 

The  time  may  be  already  anticipated  at  which  the  Ameri 
can  republics  will  be  obliged  to  introduce  the  plan  of  election 
by  an  elected  body  more  frequently  into  their  system  of  repre 
sentation,  or  they  will  incur  no  small  risk  of  perishing  misera 
bly  among  the  shoals  of  democracy. 

And  here  I  have  no  scruple  in  confessing  that  I  look  upon 
this  peculiar  system  of  election  as  the  only  means  of  bringing 
the  exercise  of  political  power  to  the  level  of  all  classes  of 
the  people.  Those  thinkers  who  regard  this  institution  as 


204  -  GOVERNMENT   OF   THE 

the  exclusive  weapon  of  a  party,  and  those  who  fear,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  make  use  of  it,  seem  to  me  to  fall  into  as  great 
an  error  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other. 


INFLUENCE   WHICH   THE    AMERICAN    DEMOCRACY  HAS  EXERCISED 
ON    THE    LAWS    RELATING    TO    ELECTIONS. 

When  Elections  are  rare,  they  expose  the  State  to  a  violent  Crisis. — 
When  they  are  frequent,  they  keep  up  a  degree  of  feverish  Excite 
ment. — The  Americans  have  preferred  the  second  of  these  two 
Evils. — Mutability  of  the  Laws. — Opinions  of  Hamilton  and  Jeffer 
son  on  this  Subject. 

WHEN  elections  recur  at  long  intervals,  the  state  is  exposed 
to  violent  agitation  every  time  they  take  place.  Parties  ex 
ert  themselves  to  the  utmost  in  order  to  gain  a  prize  which  is 
so  rarely  within  their  reach ;  and  as  the  evil  is  almost  ir 
remediable  for  the  candidates  who  fail,  the  consequence  of 
their  disappointed  ambition  may  prove  most  disastrous :  j£  on 
the  other  hand,<Jhe  legal  struggle  can  be  repeated  within  a 
short  space  of  time,  the  defeated  parties  take  patience:^ 

When  elections  occur  frequently,  this  recurrence7 keeps 
society  in  a  perpetual  state  of  feverish  excitement,  and  im 
parts  a  continual  instability  to  public  affairs. 

Thus,  on  the  one  hand,  the  state  is  exposed  to  tHe  perils 
of  a  revolution,  on  the  other,  to  perpetual  mutability ;  the 
former  system  threatens  the  very  existence  of  the  govern 
ment,  the  latter  is  an  obstacle  to  all  steady  and  consistent 
policy.  The  Americans  have  preferred  the  second  of  these 
evils  to  the  first ;  but  they  were  led  to  this  conclusion  by  their 
instinct  much  more  than  by  their  reason ;  <3pr  a  taste  |or  va 
riety-is  one  of  the  characteristic  passions  of  democracy^  An 
extraordinary  mutability  has,  by  this  means,  been  introduced 
into  their  legislation. 

Many  of  the  Americans  consider  the  instability  of  their 
laws  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  a  system  whose  general 
results  are  beneficial.  But  no  one  in  the  United  States  affects 
to  deny  the  fact  of  this  instability,  or  to  contend  that  it  is  not 
a  great  evil. 

Hamilton,  after  having  demonstrated  the  utility  of  a  power 
which  might  prevent,  or  which  might  at  least  impede,  the  pro 
mulgation  of  bad  laws,  adds :  "  It  may  perhaps  be  said  that 
the  power  of  preventing  bad  laws  includes  that  of  preventing 
good  ones,  and  may  be  used  to  the  one  purpose  as  well  as  to 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  205 

the  other.  But  this  objection  will  have  but  little  weight  with 
those  who  can  properly  estimate  the  mischiefs  of  that  incon 
stancy  and  mutability  in  the  laws  which  form  the  greatest 
blemish  in  the  character  and  genius  of  our  government. — 
(Federalist,  No.  73.) 

And  again,  in  No.  62  of  the  same  work,  he  observes : 
"  The  facility  and  excess  of  law-making  seem  to  be  the  dis- 
eases  to  which  our  governments  are  most  liable.**  :  The  / 
mischievous  effects  of  the  mutability  in  the  public  councils 
arising  from  a  rapid  succession  of  new  members,  would  fill 
a  volume  ;  every  new  election  in  the  states  is  found  to  change 
one  half  of  the  representatives.  From  this  change  of  men 
must  proceed  a  change  of  opinions  and  of  measures  which 
forfeits  the  respect  and  confidence  of  nations,  poisons  the 
blessings  of  liberty  itself,  and  diminishes  the  attachment  and 
reverence  of  the  people  toward  a  political  system  which  be 
trays  so  many  marks  of  infirmity." 

Jefferson  himself,  the  greatest  democrat  whom  the  democra 
cy  of  America  has  as  yet  produced,  pointed  out  the  same 
evils. 

"  The  instability  of  our  laws,"  he  said  in  a  letter  to  Madi 
son.  "  is  really  a  very  serious  inconvenience.  I  think  we 
ought  to  have  obviated  it  by  deciding  that  a  whole  year  should 
always  be  allowed  to  elapse  between  the  bringing  in  of  a  bill 
and  the  final  passing  of  it.  It  should  afterward  be  discussed 
and  put  to  the  vote  without  the  possibility  of  making  any  al 
teration  in  it;  and  if  the  circumstances  of  the  case  required 
a  more  speedy  decision,  the  question  should  not  be  decided 
by  a  simple  majority,  but  by  a  majority  of  at  least  two  thirds 
of  both  houses." 


PUBLIC    OFFICERS    UNDER    THE    CONTROL    OF    THE    DEMOCRACY 
OF    AMERICA. 

Simple  Exterior  of  the  American  public  Officers. — No  official  Cos 
tume. — All  public  Officers  are  remunerated. — Political  Consequences 
of  this  System. — No  public  Career  exists  in  America. — Result  of 
this. 

PUBLIC  officers  in  the  United  States  are  commingled  with  the 
crowd  of  citizens  ;  they  have  neither  palaces,  nor  guards, 
nor  ceremonial  costumes.  This  simple  exterior  of  the  per 
sons  in  authority  is  connected,  not  only  with  the  peculiarities 
of  the  American  character,  but  with  the  fundamental  princi- 


206  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

pies  of  that  society.  In  the  estimation  of  tne  democracy^  a 
government  is  not  a  benefit,  but  a  necessary  evil.  A  certain" 
degree  of  power  must  be  granted  to  public  officers,  for  they 
would  be  of  no  use  without  it.  But  the  ostensible  semblance 
of  authority  is  by  no  means  indispensable  to  the  conduct  of 
affairs ;  and  it  is  needlessly  offensive  to  the  susceptibility  of 
the  public.  The  public  officers  themselves  are  well  aware 
that  they  only  enjoy  the  superiority  over  their  fellow-citizens, 
which  they  derive  from  their  authority,  upon  condition  of 
putting  themselves  on  a  level  with  the  whole  community  by 
their  manners.  A  public  officer  in  the  United  States  is  uni 
formly  civil,  accessible  to  all  the  world,  attentive  to  all  re 
quests,  and  obliging  in  all  his  replies.  I  was  pleased  by 
these  characteristics  of  a  democratic  government ;  and  I  was 
struck  by  the  manly  independence  of  the  citizens,  who  respect 
the  office  more  than  the  officer,  and  who  are  less  attached 
to  the  emblems  of  authority  than  to  the  man  who  bears 
them. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  influence  which  costumes 
really  exercise,  in  an  age  like  that  in  which  we  live,  has 
been  a  good  deal  exaggerated.  I  never  perceived  that  a  pub 
lic  officer  in  America  was  the  less  respected  while  he  was  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  because  his  own  merit  was  set 
off  by  no  adventitious  signs.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether  a  peculiar  dress  contributes  to  the  respect 
which  public  characters  ought  to  have  for  their  own  position, 
at  least  when  they  are  not  otherwise  inclined  to  respect  it. 
When  a  magistrate  (and  in  France  such  instances  are  not 
rare),  indulges  his  trivial  wit  at  the  expense  of  a  prisoner,  or 
derides  a  predicament  in  which  a  culprit  is  placed,  it  would 
be  well  to  deprive  him  of  his  robes  of  office,  to  see  whether 
he  would  recall  some  portion  of  the  natural  dignity  of  man 
kind  when  he  is  reduced  to  the  apparel  of  a  private  citizen. 

A  democracy  may,  however,  allow  a  certain  show  of  ma, 
gisterial  pomp,  and  clothe  its  officers  in  silks  and  gold,  with- 
out  seriously  compromising  its  principles.  Privileges  of  this 
kind  are  transitory ;  they  belong  to  the  place,  and  are  dis 
tinct  from  the  individual :  but  if  public  officers  are  not  uni 
formly  remunerated  by  the  state,  the  public  charges  must  be 
intrusted  to  men  of  opulence  and  independence,  who  consti 
tute  the  basis  of  an  aristocracy  ;  and  if  the  people  still  re 
tains  its  right  of  election,  that  election  can  only  be  made 
from  a  certain  class  of  citizens. 

When  a  democratic  republic  renders  offices  which  had  for 
merly  been  remunerated,  gratuitous,  it  may  safely  be  be- 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  207 

iieved  that  that  state  is  advancing  to  monarchical  institutions  ; 
and  when  a  monarchy  begins  to  remunerate  such  officers  as 
had  hitherto  been  unpaid,  it  is  a  sure  sign  that  it  is  approach 
ing  toward  a  despotic  or  a  republican  form  of  government. 
The  substitution  of  paid  for  unpaid  functionaries  is  of  itself, 
in  my  opinion,  sufficient  to  constitute  a  serious  revolution. 

I  look  upon  the  entire  absence  of  gratuitous  functionaries 
in  America  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  signs  of  the  abso 
lute  dominion  which  democracy  ex;ercises_in  that  country. 
^All  public  services,  of  whatsoever"  nature  they  may  be,  are 
paid  £>  so  that  every  one  has  not  merely  a  right,  but  also  the 
means  of  performing  them.  Although,  in  democratic  states, 
all  the  citizens  are  qual-fied  to  occupy  stations  in  the  govern 
ment,  all  are  not  tempted  to  try  for  them.  The  number  and 
the  capacities  of  the  candidates  are  more  apt  to  restrict  the 
choice  of  electors  than  the  conditions  of  the  candidateship. 

In  nations  in  which  the  principle  of  election  extends  to 
every  place  in  the  state,  no  political  career  can,  properly 
speaking,  be  said  to  exist.  Men  are  promoted  as  if  by  chance 
to  the  rank  which  they  enjoy,  and  they  are  by  no  means  sure 
of  retaining  it.  The  consequence  is  that  in  tranquil  times 
public  functions  offer  but  few  lures  t}  ambition.  In  the 
United  States  the  persons  who  engage  in  the  perplexities  of 
political  life  are  individuals  of  very  moderate  pretensions. 
The  pursuit  of  wealth  generally  diverts  men  of  great  talents 
and  of  great  passions  from  the  pursuit  of  power  ;  and  it  very 
frequently  happens  that  a  man  does  not  undertake  to  direct 
the  fortune  of  the  state  until  he  has  discovered  his  incompe 
tence  to  conduct  his  own  affairs.  The  vast  number  of  very 
ordinary  men  who  occupy  public  stations  is  quite  as  attributa 
ble  to  these  causes  as  to  the  bad  choice  of  the  democracy. 
In  the  United  States,  I  am  not  sure  that  the  people  would  re 
turn  the  men  of  superior  abilities  who  might  solicit  its  sup 
port,  but  it  is  certain  that  men  of  this  description  do  not  come 
forward. 


\  

208  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 


ARBITRARY    POWER    OF    MAGISTRATES*    UNDER   THE    RULE    OF 
AMERICAN    DEMOCRACY. 

For  what  Reason  the  arbitrary  Power  of  Magistrates  is  greater  in  abso 
lute  Monarchies  and  in  democratic  Republics  that  it  is  in  limited 
Monarchies.— Arbitrary  Power  of  the  Magistrates  in  New  England. 

IN  two  different  kinds  of  government  the  magistrates  exercise 
a  considerable  degree  of  arbitrary  power  ;  namely,  under  the 
absolute  government  of  a  single  individual,  and  under  that  of 
a  democracy. 

This  identical  result  proceeds  from  causes  which  are  nearly 
analogous. 

In  despotic  states  the  fortune  of  no  citizen  is  secure ;  and 
public  officers  are  not  more  safe  than  private  individuals. 
The  sovereign,  who  has  under  his  control  the  lives,  the 
property,  and  sometimes  the  honor  of  the  men  whom  he 
employs,  does  not  scruple  to  allow  them  a  great  latitude  of 
action,  because  he  is  convinced  that  they  will  not  use  it  to  his 
prejudice.  In  despotic  states  the  sovereign  is  so  attached  to 
the  exercise  of  his  power,  that  he  dislikes  the  constraint  even 
of  his  own  regulations ;  and  he  is  well  pleased  that  his  agents 
should  follow  a  somewhat  fortuitous  line  of  conduct,  provided 
he  be  certain  that  their  actions  will  never  counteract  his 
desires. 

/In  democracies,  as  the  majority  has  every  year  the  right 
oidepriving  the  officers  whom  it  has  appointed  of  their  power, 
it  has  no  reason  to  fear  abuse  of  their  authority\  As  the 
people  is  always  able  to  signify  its  wishes  to  tHose  who 
conduct  the  government,  it  prefers  leaving  them  to  make  their 
own  exertions,  to  prescribing  an  invariable  rule  of  conduct 
which  would  at  once  fetter  their  activity  and  the  popular 
authority. 

It  may  even  be  observed,  on  attentive  consideration,  that 
under  the  rule  of  a  democracy  the  arbitrary  power  of  the 
magistrate  must  be  still  greater  than  in  despotic  states.  In 
the  latter,  the  sovereign  has  the  power  of  punishing  all  the 
faults  with  which  he  becomes  acquainted,  but  it  would  be 
vain  for  him  to  hope  to  become  acquainted  with  all  those 
which  are  committed.  In  the  former  the  sovereign  power  is 
not  only  supreme,  but  it  is  universally  present.  The  Ameri- 

*  I  here  use  the  word  magistrates  in  the  widest  sense  in  which  it 
can  be  taken  ;  I  apply  it  to  all  the  officers  to  whom  the  e?recution  of  the 
laws  is  intrusted. 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  209 

can  functionaries  are,  in  point  of  fact,  much  more  independent 
in  the  sphere  of  action  which  the  law  traces  out  for  them,  than 
any  public  officer  in  Europe.  Very  frequently  the  object 
which  they  are  to  accomplish  is  simply  pointed  out  to  them, 
and  the  choice  of  the  means  is  left  to  their  own  discretion. 

In  New  England,  for  instance,  the  selectmen  of  each  town 
ship  are  bound  to  draw  up  the  list  of  persons  who  are  to  serve 
on  the  jury  ;  the  only  rule  which  is  laid  down  to  guide  them 
in  their  choice  is  that  they  are  to  select  citizens  possessing  the 
elective  franchise  and  enjoying  a  fair  reputation.*  In  France 
the  lives  and  liberties  of  the  subjects  would  be  thought  to  be 
in  danger,  if  a  public  officer  of  any  kind  was  intrusted  with 
so  formidable  a  right.  In  New  England,  the  same  magis 
trates  are  empowered  to  post  the  names  of  habitual  drunkards 
in  public  houses,  and  to  prohibit  the  inhabitants  of  a  town 
from  supplying  them  with  liquor. f  A  censorial  power  of 
this  excessive  kind  would  be  revolting  to  the  population  of  the 
most  absolute  monarchies ;  here,  however,  it  is  submitted  to 
without  difficulty. 

<^Nowhere  has  so  much  been  left  by  the  law  to  the  arbitrary 
determination  of  the  magistrates  as  in  democratic  republics, 
because  this  arbitrary  power  is  unattended  by  any  alarming 
consequences^.  It  may  even  be  asserted  that  the  freedom  of 
the  magistrate  increases  as  the  elective  franchise  is  extended, 
and  as  the  duration  of  the  time  of  office  is  shortened.  Hence 
arises  the  great  difficulty  which  attends  the  conversion  of  a 
democratic  republic  into  a  monarchy.  The  magistrate  ceases 
to  be  elective,  but  he  retains  the  rights  and  the  habits  of  an 
elected  officer,  which  lead  directly  to  despotism. 

It  is  only  in  limited  monarchies  that  the  law  which  prescribes 
the  sphere  in  which  public  officers  are  to  act,  superintends 
all  their  measures.  The  cause  of  this  may  be  easily  detected. 
In  limited  monarchies  the  power  is  divided  between  the  king 
and  the  people,  both  of  whom  are  interested  in  the  stability  of 
the  magistrate.  The  king  does  not  venture  to  place  the 
public  officers  under  the  control  of  the  people,  lest  they  should 
be  tempted  to  betray  his  interests ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
people  fears  lest  the  magistrates  should  serve  to  oppress  the 
liberties  of  the  country,  if  they  were  entirely  dependent  upon 
the  crown  :  they  cannot  therefore  be  said  to  depend  on  either 

*  See  the  act  27th  February,  1S13.  General  Collection  of  the  Laws 
of  Massachusetts,  vol.  ii.,  p.  331.  It  should  be  added  that  the  Jurors 
are  afterward  drawn  from  these  lists  by  lot. 

f  See  the  act  of  28th  February,  1787.     General  Collection  of  the 
Laws  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  i.,  p.  302. 
14 


210  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

the  one  or  the  other.  The  same  cause  which  induces  the 
king  and  the  people  to  render  public  officers  independent, 
suggests  the  necessity  of  such  securities  as  may  prevent  their 
independence  from  encroaching  upon  the  authority  of  the 
former  and  the  liberties  of  the  latter.  They  consequently 
agree  as  to  the  necessity  of  restricting  the  functionary  to  a 
line  of  conduct  laid  down  beforehand,  and  they  are  interested 
in  confining  him  by  certain  regulations  which  he  cannot 
evade. 

[The  observations  respecting  the  arbitrary  powers  of  magistrates  are 
practically^  among  the  most  erroneous  in  the  work.  The  author  seems 
to  have  confounded  the  idea  of  magistrates  being  independent  with 
their  being  arbitrary.  Yet  he  had  just  before  spoken  of  their  depend- 
ance  on  popular  election  as  a  reason  why  there  was  no  apprehension 
of  the  abuse  of  their  authority.  The  independence,  then,  to  which  he 
alludes  must  be  an  immunity  from  -responsibility  to  any  other  depart 
ment.  But  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  our  system,  that  all  officers 
are  liable  to  criminal  prosecution  "  whenever  they  act  partially  or  op 
pressively  from  a  malicious  or  corrupt  motive."  See  15  Wendell's 
Reports,  278.  That  our  magistrates  are  independent  when  they  do  not 
act  partially  or  oppressively  is  very  true,  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  is 
equally  true  in  every  form  of  government.  There  would  seem,  there 
fore,  not  to  be  such  a  degree  of  independence  as  necessarily  to  produce 
arbitrariness.  The  author  supposes  that  magistrates  are  more  arbitrary 
in  a  despotism  and  in  a  democracy  than  in  a  limited  monarchy.  And 
yet,  the  limits  of  independence  and  of  responsibility  existing  in  the 
United 'States  are  borrowed  from  and  identical  with  those  established 
in  England — the  most  prominent  instance  of  a  limited  monarchy.  See 
the  authorities  referred  to  in  the  case  in  Wendell's  Reports,  before 
quoted.  Discretion  in  the  execution  of  various  ministerial  duties,  and 
in  the  awarding  of  punishment  by  judicial  officers,  is  indispensable  in 
•every  system  of  government,  from  the  utter  impossibility  of  "  laying 
down  beforehand  a  line  of  conduct"  (as  the  author  expresses  it)  in 
such  cases.  The  very  instances  of  discretionary  power  to  which  he 
refers,  and  which  he  considers  arbitrary,  exist  in  England.  There, 
the  persons  from  whom  juries  are  to  be  formed  for  the  trial  of  causes, 
civil  and  criminal,  are  selected  by  the  sheriffs,  who  are  appointed  by 
the  crown— a  power,  certainly  more  liable  to  abuse  in  their  hands,  than 
in  those  of  selectmen  or  other  town-officers,  chosen  annually  by  the 
people.  The  other  power  referred  to,  that  of  posting  the  names  of 
habitual  drunkards,  and  forbidding  their  being  supplied  with  liquor,  i^- 
but  a  reiteration  of  the  principles  contained  in  the  English  statute  of 
32  Geo.  III.,  ch.  45,  respecting  idle  and  disorderly  persons.  Indeed 
it  may  be  said  with  great  confidence,  that  there  is  not  an  instance  of 
discretionary  power  being  vested  in  American  magistrates  which  does 
not  find  its  prototype  in  the  English  laws.  The  whole  argument  of 
the  author  on  this  point,  therefore,  would  seem  to  fail. — American 
Editor.] 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA,  211 


INSTABILITY  OF1  THE  ADMINISTRATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  America  the  public  Acts  of  a  Community  frequently  leave  fewer 
Traces  than  the  Occurrences  of  a  Family. — Newspapers  the  only 
historical  Remains. — Instability  of  the  Administration  prejudicial  to 
the  Art  of  Government. 

<^HE  authority  which  public  men  possess  in  America  is  so 
brief,  and  they  are  so  soon  commingled  with  the  ever-chang 
ing  population  of  the  country,  that  the  acts  of  a  community 
frequently  leave  fewer  traces  than  the  occurrences  of  a  pri 
vate  family/)  The  public  administration  is,  so  to  speak,  oral 
and  traditionary.  But  little  is  committed  to  writing,  and  that 
little  is  wafted  away  for  ever,  like  the  leaves  of  the  sibyl,  by 
the  smallest  breeze. 

The  only  historical  remains  in  the  United  States  are  the 
newspapers ;  but  if  a  number  be  wanting,  the  chain  of  time 
is  broken,  and  the  present  is  severed  from  the  past.  I  am 
convinced  that  in  fifty  years  it  will  be  more  difficult  to  collect 
authentic  documents  concerning  the  social  condition  of  the 
Americans  at  the  present  day,  than  it  is  to  find  remains  of  the 
administration  of  France  during  the  middle  ages  ;  and  if  the 
United  States  were  ever  invaded  by  barbarians,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  have  recourse  to  the  history  of  other  nations,  in 
order  to  learn  anything  of  the  people  which  now  inhabits  them. 

The  instability  of  the  administration  has_penetrate_d  intothe_ 
habits  of  the  people  :  it  even  appears  to  suit  the  general  taste, 
and<no  one  cares  for  what  occurred  before  his  timjrj,.  No 
methodical  system  is  pursued  ;  no  archives  are  formed ;  and 
no  documents  are  brought  together  when  it  would  be  very 
easy  to  do  so.  Where  they  exist  little  store  is  set  upon  them  ; 
and  I  have  among  my  papers  several  original  public  docu 
ments  whiclj.  were  given  to  me  in  answer  to  some  of  my 
inquiries,  ^n  America  society  seems  to  live  from  hand  to 
mouth,  like  an  army  in  the  field\  Nevertheless,  the  art  of 
administration  may  undoubtedly  be  ranked  as  a  science,  and 
no  sciences  can  be  improved,  if  the  discoveries  and  observa 
tions  of  successive  generations  are  not  connected  together  in 
the  order  in  which  they  occur.  One  man,  in  the  short  space 
of  his  life,  remarks  a  fact ;  another  conceives  an  idea ;  the 
former  invents  a  means  of  execution,  the  latter  reduces  a 
truth  to  a  fixed  proposition ;  and  mankind  gathers  the  fruits 
of  individual  experience  upon  its  way,  and  gradually  forms 
the  sciences.  But  the  persons  who  conduct  the  administration 
in  America  can  seldom  afford  any  instruction  to  each  other ; 


212  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

and  when  they  assume  the  direction  of  satiety,  they  simply 
possess  those  attainments  which  are  most  widely  disseminated 
in  the  community,  and  no  experience  peculiar  to  themselves. 
Democracy,  carried  to  its  farthest  limits,  is  therefore  preju 
dicial  to  the  art  of  government ;  and  for  this  reason  it  is  bet 
ter  adapted  to  a  people  already  versed  in  the  conduct  of  an 
administration,  than  to  a  nation  which  is  uninitiated  in  public 
affairs. 

This  remark,  indeed,  is  imt  exclusively  applicable  to  the 
science  of  administration.  <Although  a  democratic  govern 
ment  is  founded  upon  a  very  simple  and  natural  principle,  it 
always  presupposes  the  existence  of  a  high  degree  of  culture 
and  enlightenment  in  society^.  At  the  first  glance  it  may 
be  imagined  to  belong  to  the  earliest  ages  of  the  world  ;  but 
maturer  observation  will  convince  us  that  it  could  only  come 
last  in  the  succession  of  human  history. 

[These  remarks  upon  the  "  instability  of  administration"  in  Ame 
rica,  are  partly  correct,  but  partly  erroneous.  It  is  certainly  true  that 
our  public  men  are  not  educated  to  the  business  of  government ;  even 
our  diplomatists  are  selected  with  very  little  reference  to  their  experi 
ence  in  that  department.  But  the  universal  attention  that  is  paid  by 
the  intelligent,  to  the  measures  of  government  and  to  the  discussions  to 
which  they  give  rise,  is  in  itself  no  slight  preparation  for  the  ordinary 
duties  of  legislation.  And,  indeed,  this  the  author  subsequently  seems 
to  admit.  As  to  there  being  "  no  archives  formed  "  of  public  docu 
ments,  the  author  is  certainly  mistaken.  The  journals  of  congress, 
the  journals  of  state  legislatures,  the  public  documents  transmitted  to 
and  originating  in  those  bodies,  are  carefully  preserved  and  dissemi 
nated  through  the  nation :  and  they  furnish  in  themselves  the  materi 
als  of  a  full  and  accurate  history.  '  Our  great  defect,  doubtless,  is  in  the 
want  of  statistical  information.  Excepting  the  annual  reports  of  the 
state  of  our  commerce,  made  by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  under  a 
law,  and  excepting  the  census  which  is  taken  every  ten  years  under  the 
authority  of  congress,  and  those  taken  by  the  states,  we  have  no  offi 
cial  statistics.  It  is  supposed  that  the  author  had  this  species  of  in 
formation  in  his  mind  when  he  alluded  to  the  general  deficiency  of 
our  archives. — American  Editor. ,] 

*  It  is  needless  to  observe,  that  I  speak  here  of  the  democratic  form 
of  government  as  applied  to  a  people,  not  merely  to  a  tribe. 


DEMOCRACY   IN   AMERICA.  213 


CHARGES    LEVIED     BY    THE     STATE     UNDER     THE     RULE    OF   THE 
AMERICAN    DEMOCRACY. 

In  all  Communities  Citizens  divisible  into  three  Classes. — Habits  of 
each  of  these  Classes  in  the  Direction  of  public  Finances. — Why 
public  Expenditures  must  tend  to  increase  when  the  People  go 
verns. — What  renders  the  Extravagance  of  a  Democracy  less  to  be 
feared  in  America. — Public  Expenditure  under  a  Democracy. 

BEFORE  we  can  affirm  whether  a  democratic  form  of  govern 
ment  is  economical  or  not,  we  must  establish  a  suitable 
standard  of  comparison.  The  question  would  be  one  of  easy 
solution  if  we  were  to  attempt  to  draw  a  parallel  between  a 
democratic  republic  and  an  absolute  monarchy.  The  pub 
lic  expenditure  would  be  found  to  be  more  considerable  under 
the  former  than  under  the  latter  ;  such  is  the  case  with  all 
free  states  compared  to  those  which  are  not  so.  It  is  certain 
that  despotism  ruins  individuals  by  preventing  them  from  pro 
ducing  wealth,  much  more  than  by  depriving  them  of  the 
wealth  they  have  produced  :  it  dries  up  the  source  of  riches, 
while  it  usually  respects  acquired  property,  freedom, .  on 
the  contrary,  engenders  far  more  benefits  than  it  destroys ; 
and  the  nations  which  are  favored  by  free  institutions,  invari 
ably  find  that  their  resources  increase  even  more  rapidly  than 
their  taxes^. 

JVfy  present  object  is  to  compare  free  nations  to  each  other ; 
and  to  point  out  the  influence  of  democracy  upon  the  finan 
ces  of  a  state. 

Communities,  as  well  as  organic  bodies,  are  subject  to  cer 
tain  fixed  rules  in  their  formation  which  they  cannot  evade. 
They  are  composed  of  certain  elements  which  are  common  to 
them  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances.  The  people 
may  always  be  mentally  divided  into  three  distinct  classes. 
The  first  of  these  classes  consists  of  the  wealthy  ;  the  second, 
of  those  who  are  in  easy  circumstances ;  and  the  third  is 
composed  of  those  who  have  little  or  no  property,  and  who 
subsist  more  especially  oy  the  work  which  they  perform  for 
the  two  superior  orders.  The  proportion  of  the  individuals 
who  are  included  in  these  three  divisions  may  vary  accord 
ing  to  the  condition  of  society  ;  but  the  divisions  themselves 
can  never  be  obliterated. 

Tt  is  evident  that  each  of  these  classes  will  exercise  an  in 
fluence,  peculiar  to  its  own  propensities,  upon  the  administra 
tion  of  the  finances  of  the  state.  If  the  first  of  the  three  ex 
clusively  possess  the  legislative  power,  it  is  probable  that  it 


214  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

will  not  be  sparing  of  the  public  funds,  because  the  taxes 
which  are  levied  on  a  large  fortune  only  tend  to  diminish  the 
sum  of  superfluous  enjoyment,  and  are,  in  point  of  fact,  but 
little  felt.  If  the  second  class  has  the  power  of  making  the 
laws,  it  will  certainly  not  be  lavish  of  taxes,  because  nothing 
is  so  onerous  as  a  large  impost  which  is  levied  upon  a  small 
income.  ^The  government  of  the  middle  classes  appears  to 
me  to  be  the  most  economical,  though  perhaps  not  the  most 
enlightened,  and  certainly  not  the  most  generous,  of  free  gov 
ernments^ 

But  let,  us  now  suppose  that  the  legislative  authority  is 
vested  in  the  lowest  orders :  there  are  two  striking  reasons 
which  show  that  the  tendency  of  the  expenditure  will  be  to 
increase,  not  to  diminish. 

As  the  great  majority  of  those  who  create  the  laws  are 
possessed  of  no  property  upon  which  taxes  can  be  imposed, 
all  the  money  which  is  spent  for  the  community  appears  to 
be  spent  to  their  advantage,  at  no  cost  of  their  own ;  and 
those  who  are  possessed  of  some  little  property  readily  find 
means  of  Tegulating  the  taxes  so  that  they  are  burthensome 
to  the  wealthy  and  profitable  to  the  poor,  although  the  rich  are 
unable  to  take  the  same  advantage  when  they  are  in  posses 
sion  of  the  government. 

In  countries  in  which  the  poor*  should  be  exclusively 
invested  with  the  power  of  making  the  laws,  no  great  economy 
of  public  expenditure  ought  to  be  expected  ;  that  expenditure 
will  always  be  considerable  ;  either  because  the  taxes  do  not 
weigh  upon  those  who  levy  them,  or  because  they  are  levied 
in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  weigh  upon  those  classes.  In 
other  words,  the.  government  of  the  democracy  is  the  only  one 
under  which  the  power  which  lays  on  taxes  escapes  the  pay- 
ment  of  them. 

It  may  be  objected  (but  the  argument  has  no  real  weight) 
that  the  true  interest  of  the  people  is  indissolubly  connected 
with  that  of  the  wealthier  portion  of  the  community,  since  it 
cannot  but  suffer  by  the  severe  measures  to  which  it  resorts. 
But  is  it  not  the  true  interest  of  kings  to  render  their  subjects 
happy ;  and  the  true  interest  of  nobles  to  admit  recruits  into 
their  order  on  suitable  grounds  ?  If  remote  advantages  had 
power  to  prevail  over  the  passions  and  the  exigencies  of  the 

*  The  word  poor  is  used  here,  and  throughout  the  remainder  of  this 
chapter,  in  a  relative  and  not  in  an  absolute  sense.  Poor  men  in  Ame 
rica  would  often  appear  rich  in  comparison  with  the  poor  of  Europe : 
but  they  may  with  propriety  be  styled  poor  in  comparison  with  their 
more  affluent  countrymen. 


DEMOCRACY   IN   AMERICA.  215 

moment,  no  such  thing  as  a  tyrannical  sovereign  or  an  exclu 
sive  aristocracy  could  ever  exist. 

Again,  it  may  be  objected  that  the  poor  are  never  invested 
with  the  sole  power  of  making  the  laws ;  but  I  reply,  that 
wherever  universal  suffrage  has  been  established,  the  major 
ity  of  the  community  unquestionably  exercises  the  legislative 
authority,  and  if  it  be  proved  that  the  poor  always  constitute 
the  majority,  it  may  be  added,  with  perfect  truth,  that  in  the 
countries  in  which  they  possess  the  elective  franchise,  they 
possess  the  sole  power  of  making  laws.  But  it  is  certain  that 
in  all  the  nations  of  the  world  the  greater  number  has  always 
consisted  of  those  persons  who  hold  no  property,  or  of  those 
whose  property  is  insufficient  to  exempt  them  from  the  ne 
cessity  of  working  in  order  to  procure  an  easy  subsistence 
Universal  suffrage  does  therefore  in  point  ...of  fact  invest  the 
poor  with  the  government  of  society. 

The  disastrous  influence  which  popular  authority  may 
sometimes  exercise  upon  the  finances  of  a  state,  was  very 
clearly  seen  in  some  of  the  democratic  republics  of  antiquity, 
in  which  the  public  treasure  was  exhausted  in  order  to  relieve 
indigent  citizens,  or  to  supply  the  games  and  theatrical  amuse 
ments  of  the  populace.  It  is  true  that  the  representative  sys 
tem  was  then  very  imperfectly  known,  and  that,  at  the  present 
time,  the  influence  of  popular  passions  is  less  felt  in  the  con 
duct  of  public  affairs ;  but  it  may  be  believed  that  the  dele 
gate  will  in  the  end  conform  to  the  principles  of  his  constitu 
ents,  and  favor  their  propensities  as  much  as  their  interests. 

The  extravagance  of  democracy  is,  however,  less  to  be 
dreaded  in  proportion  as  the  people  acquires  a  share  of  pro 
perty,  because  on  the  one  hand  the  contributions  of  the  rich 
are  then  less  needed,  and  on  the  other,  it  is  more  difficult  to 
lay  on  taxes  which  do  not  affect  the  interests  of  the  lower 
classes.  On  this  account  universal  suffrage  would  be  less 
dangerous  in  France  than  in  England,  because  in  the  latter 
country  the  property  on  which  taxes  may  be  levied  is  vested 
in  fewer  hands.  America,  where  the  great  majority  of  the 
citizens  is  possessed  of  some  fortune,  is  in  a  still  more  favor 
able  position  than  France. 

There  are  still  farther  causes  which  may  increase  the  sum 
of  public  expenditures  in  democratic  countries.  When  the 
aristocracy  governs,  the  individuals  who  conduct  the  affairs  of 
state  are  exempted,  by  their  own  station  in  society,  from  every 
kind  of  privation :  they  are  contented  with  their  position  ; 
power  and  renown  are  the  objects  for  which  they  strive  ;  and, 
as  they  are  placed  far  above  the  obscurer  throng  of  citizens, 


216  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

they  do  not  always  distinctly  perceive  how  the  wellbeing  of 
the  mass  of  the  people  ought  to  redound  to  their  own  honor. 
They  are  not,  indeed,  callous  to  the  sufferings  of  the  poor,  but 
-hey  cannot  feel  those  miseries  as  acutely  as  if  they  were 
themselves  partakers  of  them.  Provided  that  the  people  ap 
pear  to  submit  to  its  lot,  the  rulers  are  satisfied  and  they 
demand  nothing  farther  from  the  government.  /A.n  aristocracy 
is  more  intent  upon  the  means  of  maintaining  its  influence, 
than  upon  the  means  of  improving  its  condition^ 

When,  on  the  contrary,  the  people  is  invested  with  the 
supreme  authority,  the  perpetual  sense  of  their  own  miseries 
impels  the  rulers  of  society  to  seek  for  perpetual  meliorations. 
A  thousand  different  objects  are  subjected  to  improvement ; 
the  most  trivial  details  are  sought  out  as  susceptible  of  amend 
ment  ;  and  those  changes  which  are  accompanied  with  con 
siderable  expense,  are  more  especially  advocated,  since  the 
object  is  to  render  the  condition  of  the  poor  more  tolerable, 
who  cannot  pay  for  themselves. 

Moreover,  all  democratic  communities  are  agitated  by  an 
ill-defined  excitement,  and  by  a  kind  of  feverish  impatience, 
that  engenders  a  multitude  of  innovations*  almost  all  of  which 
are  attended  with  expense. 

In  monarchies  and  aristocracies,  the  natural  taste  which 
the  rulers  have  for  power  and  for  renown,  is  stimulated  by 
the  promptings  of  ambition,  and  they  are  frequently  incited 
by  these  temptations  to  very  costly  undertakings.  In  demo 
cracies,  where  the  rulers  labor  under  privations,  they  can 
only  be  courted  by  such  means  as  improve  their  wellbeing, 
and  these  improvements  cannot  take  place  without  a  sacrifice 
of  money.  ^Vhen  a  people  begins  to  reflect  upon  its  situation, 
it  discovers  a  multitude  of  wants,  to  which  it  had  not  before 
been  subject,  and  to  satisfy  these  exigencies,  recourse  must 
be  had  to  the  coffers  of  the  state/  Hence  it  arises,  that  the 
vpublic  charges  increase  in  proportion  as  civilisation  spreads, 
and  that  the  imposts  are  augmented  as  knowledge  pervades 
the  community. 

The  last  cause  which  frequently  renders  a  democratic 
government  dearer  than  any  other  is,  that  a  democracy  does 
not  always  succeed  in  moderating  its  expenditure,  because  it 
<l»!'s  not  understand  the  art  of  being  economical.  As  the  de 
signs  which  it  entertains  are  frequently  changed,  and  the 
agents  of  those  designs  are  more  frequently  removed,  its  un 
dertakings  are  often  ill-conducted  or  left  unfinished  :  in  the 
former  case  the  state  spends  sums  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
end  which  it  proposes  to  accomplish  ;  in  the  second,  the  ex 
pense  itself  is  unprofitable. 


DEMOCRACY    IN   AMERICA.  .117 


TENDENCIES   OF   THE   AMERICAN   DEMOCRACY    AS    REGARDS   THE 
SALARIES    OF    PUBLIC    OFFICERS. 

In  Democracies  those  who  establish  high  Salaries  have  no  Chance  of 
profiting  by  them. — Tendency  of  the  American  Democracy  to  in 
crease  the  Salaries  of  subordinate  Officers,  and  to  lower  those  of  the 
more  important  functionaries. — Reason  of  this. — Comparative  State 
ment  of  the  Salaries  of  public  Officers  in  the  United  States  and  in 
France. 

THERE  is  a  powerful  reason  which  usually  induces  democra 
cies  to  economise  upon  the  salaries  of  public  officers.  As  the 
number  of  citizens  who  dispense  the  remuneration  is  ex 
tremely  large  in  democratic  countries,  so  the  number  of 
persons  who  can  hope  to  be  benefited  by  the  receipt  of  it  is 
comparatively  small.  In  aristocratic  countries,  on  the  con 
trary,  the  individuals  who  appoint  high  salaries,  have  almost 
always  a  vague  hope  of  profiting  by  them.  These  appoint 
ments  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  capital  which  they  create  for 
their  own  use,  or  at  least,  as  a  resource  for  their  children. 

It  must,  however,  be  allowed  that  a  democratic  state  is 
most  parsimonious  toward  its  principal  agents.  In  America  the 
secondary  officers  are  much  better  paid,  and  the  dignitaries 
of  the  administration  much  worse  than  they  are  elsewhere. 

These  opposite  effects  result  from  the  same  cause  :  the  peo 
ple  fixes  the  salaries  of  the  public  officers  in  both  cases ;  and 
the  scale  of  remuneration  is  determined  by  the  consideration 
of  its  own  wants.  It  is  held  to  be  fair  that  the  servants  of 
the  public  should  be  placed  in  the  same  easy  circumstances 
as  the  public  itself;*  but  when  the  question  turns  upon  the 
salaries  of  the  great  officers  of  state,  this  rule  fails,  and  chance 
alone  can  guide  the  popular  decision.  ^The  poor  have  no 
adequate  conceptions  of  the  wants  which  the  higher  classes 
of  society  may  feeI/>  The  sum  which  is  scanty  to  the  rich, 
appears  enormous  to  the  poor  man,  whose  wants  do  not  extend 
beyond  the  necessaries  of  life  :  and  in  his  estimation  the  gov 
ernor  of  a  state,  with  his  two  or  three  hundred  a  year,  is  a 
very  fortunate  and  enviable  being. j"  If  you  undertake  to 

*  The  easy  circumstances  in  which  secondary  functionaries  are  placed 
in  the  United  States,  result  also  from  another  cause,  which  is  inde 
pendent  of  the  general  tendencies  of  democracy  :  every  kind  of  private 
business  is  very  lucrative,  and  the  state  would  not  be  served  at  all  if  it 
did  not  pay  its  servants.  The  country  is  in  the  position  of  a  commer 
cial  undertaking,  which  is  obliged  to  sustain  an  expensive  competition, 
notwithstanding  its  taste  for  economy. 

t  The  state  of  Ohio,  which  contains  a  million  of  inhabitants,  gives 
its  governor  a  salary  of  only  $1,200  (260/.)  a  year. 


~18  GOVERNMENT   OF    THE 

convince  him  that  the  representative  of  a  great  people  ought 
to  be  able  to  maintain  some  show  of  splendor  in  the  eyes  of 
foreign  nations,  he  will  perhaps  assent  to  your  meaning  ;  but 
when  he  reflects  on  his  own  humble  dwelling,  and  on  the 
hard-earned  produce  of  his  wearisome  toil,  he  remembers  all 
that  he  could  do  with  a  salary  which  you  say  is  insufficient, 
and  he  is  startled  or  almost  frightened  at  the  sight  of  such 
uncommon  wealth.  Besides,  the  secondary  public  officer  is 
almost  on  a  level  with  the  people,  while  the  others  are  raised 
above  it.  The  former  may  there  fore  excite  fiis  interest,  but 
the  lattes  begins  to  arouse_his_envy.  —  VjL<xV~  Y-  ^VV 

This  is  very  clearly  seen  in  the  United  States,  where  the 
salaries  seem  to  decrease  as  the  authority  of  those  who  re 
ceive  them  augments.* 

Under  the  rule  of  an  aristocracy  it  frequently  happens,  on 
the  contrary,  that  while  the  high  officers  are  receiving  mu 
nificent  salaries,  the  inferior  ones  have  not  more  than  enough 
to  procure  the  necessaries  of  life.  The  reason  of  this  fact  is 
easily  discoverable  from  causes  very  analogous  to  those  to 
which  I, have  just  alluded.  If  a  democracy  is  unable  to  con 
ceive  the  pleasures  of  the  rich,  or  to  see  them  without  envy, 
an  aristocracy  is  slow  to  understand,  or,  to  speak  more  cor 
rectly,  is  unacquainted  with  the  privations  of  the  poor.  The 
poor  man  is  not  (if  we  use  the  term  aright)  the  fellow  of  the  rich 
one  ;  but  he  is  the  being  of  another  species.  An  aristocracy 
is  therefore  apt  to  care  but  little  for  the  fate  of  its  subordinate 

*  To  render  this  assertion  perfectly  evident,  it  will  suffice  to  examine 
the  scale  of  salaries  of  the  agents  of  the  federal  government.  I  have 
added  the  salaries  attached,  to  the  corresponding  officers  in  France,  to 
complete  the  comparison  : — 

UNITED    STATES.  FRANCE. 

Treasury  Department.  Ministere  des  Finances. 

Messenger.  .  .  $  700  1507.  Huissier,  1,500  fr.  .  .  .  607. 
Clerk  with  lowest  sal-  Clerk  with  lowest  salary, 

ary 1,000      217         1,000  to  1,800  fr.  .     .     40  to  72 

Clerk     with     highest  Clerk  with  highest  sal- 

salary  ....  1,600  347  ary,  3,200  to  3,600  fr.  128  to  144 
Chief  clerk  .  .  .  2,000  434  Secretaire-general,  2C, 000  fr.  800 
Secretary  of  state  .  6,000  1,300  The  minister,  80,000  fr.  .'3,200 
The  President  .  .  25,000  5,400  The  king,  12,000,000  fr.  480,000 
Ihave  perhaps  done  wrong  in  selecting  France  as  my  standard  of  com 
parison.  In  France  the  democratic  tendencies  of  the  nation  exercise 
an  ever-increasing  influence  upon  the  government,  and  the  chambers 
show  a  disposition  to  raise  the  lowest  salaries  and  to  lower  the  princi 
pal  ones.  Thus  the  minister  of  finance,  who  received  100,000  fr.  un 
der  the  empire,  receives  80,000  fr.,  in  1835;  the  directeurs-generaux 
of  finance,  who  then  received  50,000  fr.,  now  receive  only  20,000  fr. 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  219 

agents  :  and  their  salaries  are  only  raised  when  they  refuse 
to  perform  their  service  for  too  scanty  a  remuneration. 

It  is  the  parsimonious  conduct  of  democracy  toward  its 
principal  officers,  which  has  countenanced  a  supposition  of 
far  more  economical  propensities  than  any  which  it  really 
possesses.  It  is  true  that  it  scarcely  allows  the  means  of 
honorable  subsistence  to  the  individuals  who  conduct  its 
affairs  ;  but  enormous  sums  are  lavished  to  meet  the  exigen 
cies  or  to  facilitate  the  enjoyments  of  the  people.*  The 
money  raise/d  by  taxation  may  be  better  employed,  but  it  is 
not  saved.  \In  general,  democracy  gives  largely  to\the  com 
munity,  and  very  sparingly  to  those  who  govern  m  The 
reverse  is  the  case  in  the  aristocratic  countries,  wnere  the 
money  of  the  state  is  expended  to  the  profit  of  the  persons 
who  are  at  the  head  of  affairs. 


DIFFICULTY  OF  DISTINGUISHING  THE  CAUSES  WHICH  CONTRIBUTE 
TO    THE    ECONOMY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    GOVERNMENT. 

WE  are  liable  to  frequent  errors  in  the  research  of  those  facts 
which  exercise  a  serious  influence  upon  the  fate  of  mankind, 
since  nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  appreciate  their  real 
value.  4?ne  people  is  naturally^nconsistent  and  enthusiastic  ; 
another  is  sober  and  calculating^  and  these  characteristics 
originate  in  their  physical  constitution,  or  in  remote  causes 
with  which  we  are  unacquainted. 

There  are  nations  which  are  fond  of  parade  and  the  bustle 
of  festivity,  and  which  do  not  regret  the  costly  gaieties  of  an 
hour.  Others,  on  the  contrary,  are  attached  to  more  retiring 
pleasures,  and  seem  almost  ashamed  of  appearing  to  be 
pleased.  In  some  countries  the  highest  value  is  set  upon  the 
beauty  of  public  edifices  ;  in  others  the  productions  of  art  are 
treated  with  indifference,  and  everything  which  is  unproduc 
tive  is  looked  down  upon  with  contempt.  In  some  renown,  in 
others  money,  is  the  ruling  passion. 
•^Independently  of  the  laws,  all  these  causes  concur  to  exer- 

*  S&te  the  American  budgets  for  the  cost  of  indigent  citizens  and  gra 
tuitous  instruction.  In  1831,  50,000/.  were  spent  in  the  state  of  New- 
York  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor ;  and  at  least  200,000/.  were 
devoted  to  gratuitous  instruction.  (Williams's  New  York  Annual  Re 
gister,  1832,  pp.  205,  243.)  The  state  of,  New  York  contained  only 
1,900,000  inhabitants  in  the  year  1830 ;  which  is  not  more  than  double 
the  amount  of  population  in  the  department  du  Nord  in  France. 


220  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

cise  a  very  powerful  influence  upon  the  conduct  of  the  finances 
of  the  state^  If  the  Americans  never  spend  the  money  of  the 
people  in  galas,  it  is  not  only  because  the  imposition  of  taxes 
is  under  the  control  of  the  people,  but  because  the  people 
takes  no  delight  in  public  rejoicings.  If  they  repudiate  all 
ornament  from  their  architecture,  and  set  no  store  on  any  but 
the  more  practical  and  homely  advantages,  it  is  not  tonly 
because  they  live  under  democratic  institutions,  but  because 
they  are  a  commercial  nation.  ^JThe  habits  of  private  life  are 
continued  in  public^  and  we  ought  carefully  to  distinguish 
that  eqpnomy  which  depends  upon  their  institutions,  from 
that  which  is  the  natural  result  of  their  manners  and  customs. 


WHETHER    THE    EXPENDITURE    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES    CAN    BE 
COMPARED    TO    THAT    OF    FRANCE. 

Two  Points  to  be  established  in  order  to  estimate  the  Extent  of  the 
public  Charges,  viz. :  the  national  Wealth,  and  the  Rate  of  Taxation. 
The  Wealth  and  the  Charges  of  France  not  accurately  known. — Why 
the  Wealth  and  Charges  of  the  Union  cannot  be  accurately  known. 
Researches  of  the  Author  with  a  View  to  discover  the  Amount  of 
Taxation  in  Pennsylvania. — General  Symptoms  which  may  serve  to 
indicate  the  Amount  of  the  public  Charges  in  a  given  Nation. — Result 
of  this  Investigation  for  the  Union. 

MANY  attempts  have  recently  been  made  in  France  to  compare 
the  public  expenditure  of  that  country  with  the  expenditure 
of  the  United  States ;  all  these  attempts  have,  however,  been 
unattended  by  success ;  and  a  few  words  will  suffice  to  show 
that  they  could  not  have  had  a  satisfactory  result. 

In  order  to  estimate  the  amount  of  the  public  charges  of  a 
people,  two  preliminaries  are  indispensable ;  it  is  necessary, 
in  the  first  place,  to  know  the  wealth  of  that  people ;  and  in 
the  second,  to  learn  what  portion  of  that  wealth  is  devoted  to 
the  expenditure  of  the  state.  To  show  the  amount  of  taxation 
without  showing  the  resources  which  are  destined  to  meet  the 
demand,  is  to  undertake  a  futile  labor  ;  for  it  is  not  the 
expenditure,  but  the  relation  of  the  expenditure  to  the  revenue, 
which  it  is  desirable  to  know. 

The  same  rate  of  taxation  which  may  easily  be  supported 
by  a  wealthy  contributor,  will  reduce  a  poor  one  to  extreme 
misery.  xThe  wealth  of  nations  is  composed  of  several  distinct 
elements,  of  which  population  is  the  first,  real  property  the 
second,  and  personal  property  the  thircU^  The  first  of 
these  three  elements  may  be  discovered  without  difficulty. 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  221 

Among  civilized  nations  it  is  easy  to  obtain  an  accurate  census 
of  the  inhabitants ;  but  the  two  others  cannot  be  determined 
with  so  much  facility.  It  is  difficult  to  take  an  exact  account 
of  all  the  lands  in  a  country  which  are  under  cultivation, 
with  their  natural  or  their  acquired  value  ;  and  it  is  still  more 
impossible  to  estimate  the  entire  personal  property  which  is 
at  the  disposal  of  the  nation,  and  which  eludes  the  strictest 
analysis  by  the  diversity  and  number  of  shapes  under  which 
it  may  occur.  And,  indeed,  we  find  that  the  most  ancient 
civilized  nations  of  Europe,  including  even  those  in  which  the 
administration  is  most  central,  have  not  succeeded,  as  yet, 
in  determining  the  exact  condition  of  their  wealth. 

In  America  the  attempt  has  never  been  made  ;  for  how 
would  such  an  investigation  be  possible  in  a  country  where 
society  has  not  yet  settled  into  habits  of  regularity  and  tran 
quillity  ;  where  the  national  government  is  not  assisted  by  a 
multitude  of  agents  whose  exertions  it  can  command,  and 
direct  to  one  sole  end ;  and  where  statistics  are  not  studied, 
because  no  one  is  able  to  collect  the  necessary  documents,  or 
can  find  time  to  peruse  them  ?  Thus  the  primary  elements 
of  the  calculations  which  have  been  made  in  Franfifii  nannnt 
be_obtaTned  in  'the  LJmon:  the  relative  wealth  of  the  two 
countries  is  unknown  :  the  property  of  the  former  is  not  accu 
rately  determined,  and  no  means  exist  of  computing  that  of 
the  latter. 

<<!  consent,  therefore,  for  the  sake  of  the  discussion,  to  aban 
don  this  necessary  term  of  the  comparison,  and  I  confine  my 
self  to  a  computation  of  the  actual  amount  of  taxation,  with 
out  investigating  the  relation  which  subsists  between  the 
taxation  and  the  revenueV  But  the  reader  will  perceive  that 
my  task  has  not  been  facilitated  by  the  limits  which  I  here 
lay  down  for  my  researches. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  central  administration  of 
France,  assisted  by  all  the  public  officers  who  are  at  its  dis 
posal,  might  determine  with  exactitude  the  amount  of  the 
direct  and  indirect  taxes  levied  upon  the  citizens.  But  this 
investigation,  which  no  private  individual  can  undertake,  has 
not  hitherto  been  completed  by  the  French  government,  or,  at 
least,  its  results  have  not  been  made  public.  We  are  ac 
quainted  with  the  sum  total  of  the  state  ;  we  know  the  amount 
of  the  departmental  expenditure ;  but  the  expenses  of  the 
communal  divisions  have  not  been  computed,  and  the  amount 
of  the  public  expenses  of  France  is  unknown. 

If  we  now  turn  to  America,  we  shall  perceive  that  the  diffi 
culties  are  multiplied  and  enhanced.  The  Union  publishes 


222  GOVERNMENT   OF    THE 

an  exact  return  of  the  amount  of  its  expenditure  ;  the  budgets 
of  the  four-and-twenty  states  furnish  similar  returns  of  their 
revenues ;  but  the  expenses  incident  to  the  affairs  of  the  coun 
ties  and  the  townships  are  unknown.* 

The  authority  of  the  federal  government  cannot  oblige  the 
provincial  governments  to  throw  any  light  upon  this  point ; 
and  even  if  these  governments  were  inclined  to  afford  their 
simultaneous  co-operation,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  they 
possess  the  means  of  procuring  a  satisfactory  answer.  Inde 
pendently  of  the  natural  difficulties  of  the  task,  the  political 
organization  of  the  country  would  act  as  a  hindrance  to  the 
success  of  their  efforts.  The  county  and  town  magistrates 
are  not  appointed  by  the  authorities  of  the  state,  and  they 
are  not  subjected  to  their  control.  It  is  therefore  very  allow 
able  to  suppose,  that  if  the  state  was  desirous  of  obtaining  the 
returns  which  we  require,  its  designs  would  be  counteracted 
by  the  neglect  of  those  subordinate  officers  whom  it  would  be 
obliged  to  employ. f  It  is,  in  point  of  fact,  useless  to  inquire 

*  The  Americans,  as  we  have  seen,  have  four  separate  budgets ;  the 
Union,  the  states,  the  counties,  and  the  townships,  having  each  seve 
rally  their  own.  During  my  stay  in  America  I  made  every  endeavor  to 
discover  the  amount  of  the  public  expenditure  in  the  townships  and 
counties  of  the  principal  states  of  the  Union,  and  I  readily  obtained  the 
budget  of  the  larger  townships,  but  I  found  it  quite  impossible  to  pro 
cure  that  of  the  smaller  ones.  I  possess,  however,  some  documents 
relating  to  county  expenses,  which,  although  incomplete,  are  still  curi 
ous.  I  have  to  thank  Mr.  Richards,  mayor  of  Philadelphia,  for  the 
budgets  of  thirteen  of  the  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  viz. :  Lebanon, 
Centre,  Franklin,  Fayette,  Montgomery,  Luzerne,  Dauphin,  Butler, 
Allegany,  Columbia,  Northampton,  Northumberland,  and  Philadelphia, 
for  the  year  1830.  Their  population  at  that  time  consisted  of  495,207 
inhabitants.  On  looking  at  the  map  of  Pennsylvania,  it  will  be  seen 
that  these  thirteen  counties  are  scattered  in  every  direction,  and  so 
generally  affected  by  the  causes  which  usually  influence  the  condition 
of  a  country,  that  they  may  easily  be  supposed  to  furnish  a  correct 
average  of  the  financial  state  of  the  counties  of  Pennsylvania  in  gene 
ral  ;  and  thus,  upon  reckoning  that  the  expenses  of  these  counties 
amounted  in  the  year  1830  to  about  72,330/.,  or  nearly  3*.  for  each 
inhabitant,  and  calculating  that  each  of  them  contributed  in  the  same 
year  about  10s.  2d.  toward  the  Union,  and  about  3s.  to  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania,  it  appears  that  they  each  contributed  as  their  share  of 
all  the  public  expenses  (except  those  of  the  townships),  the  sum  of 
16*.  2d.  This  calculation  is  doubly  incomplete,  as  it  applies  only  to  a 
single  year  and  to  one  part  of  the  public  charges;  but  it  has  at  least 
the  merit  of  not  being  conjectural. 

f  Those  who  have  attempted  to  draw  a  comparison  between  the  ex 
penses  of  France  and  America,  have  at  once  perceived  that  no  such 
comparison  could  be  drawn  between  the  total  expenditures  of  the  two 
countries  ;  but  they  have  endeavored  to  contrast  detached  portions  of 
this  expenditure.  It  may  readily  be  shown  that  this  second  system 
is  not  at  all  less  defective  than  the  first. 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  223 

what  the  Americans  might  do  to  forward  this  inquiry,  since 
h  is  certain  that  they  have  hitherto  done  nothing  at  all.  There 
•Joes  not  exist  a  single  individual  at  the  present  day,  in  Ame 
rica  or  in  Europe,  who  can  inform  us  what  each  citizen  of 
the  Union  annually  contributes  to  the  public  charges  of  the 
nation.* 

If  I  attempt  to  compare  the  French  budget  with  the  budget  of  the 
Union,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  latter  embraces  much  fewer 
objects  than  the  central  government  of  the  former  country,  and  that 
the  expenditure  must  consequently  be  much  smaller.  If  I  contrast  the 
Budgets  of  the  departments  to  those  of  the  states  which  constitute  the 
Union,  it  must  be  observed,  that  as  the  power  and  control  exercised  by 
the  states  is  much  greater  than  that  which  is  exercised  by  the  depart 
ments,  their  expenditure  is  also  more  considerable.  As  for  the  budgets 
of  the  counties,  nothing  of  the  kind  occurs  in  the  French  system  of 
finance  ;  and  it  is,  again,  doubtful  whether  the  corresponding  expenses 
should  be  referred  to  the  budget  of  the  state  or  to  those  of  the  muni 
cipal  divisions. 

Municipal  expenses  exist  in  both  countries,  but  they  are  not  always 
analogous.  In  America  the  townships  discharge  a  variety  of  otlices 
which  are  reserved  in  France  to  the  departments  or  the  state.  It  may, 
moreover,  be  asked,  what  is  to.be  understood  by  the  municipal  ex 
penses  of  America.  The  organization  of  the  municipal  bodies  or  town 
ships  differs  in  the  several  states :  Are  we  to  be  guided  by  what  occurs 
in  New  England  or  in  Georgia,  in  Pennsylvania  or  the  state  of  Illinois  ? 

A  kind  of  analogy  may  very  readily  be  perceived  between  certain 
budgets  in  the  two  countries  :  but  as  the  elements  of  which  they  are 
composed  always  differ  more  or  less,  no  fair  comparison  can  be  insti 
tuted  between  them. 

*  Even  if  we  ,knew  the  exact  pecuniary  contributions  of  every 
French  and  American  citizen  to  the  coffers  of  the  state,  we  should  only 
come  at  a  portion  of  the  truth.  Governments  not  only  demand  sup 
plies  of  money,  but  they  call  for  personal  services,  which  may  be  looked 
upon  as  equivalent  to  a  given  sum.  When  a  state  raises  an  army,  be 
side  the  pay  of  the  troops  which  is  furnished  by  the  entire  nation,  each 
soldier  must  give  up  his  time,  the  value  of  which  depends  on  the  use 
he  might  make  of  it  if  he  were  not  in  the  service.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  the  militia  :  the  citizen  who  is  in  the  militia  devotes  a  cer 
tain  portion  of  valuable  time  to  the  maintenance  of  the  public  peace, 
and  he  does  in  reality  surrender  to  the  state  those  earnings  which  he 
is  prevented  from  gaining.  Many  other  instances  might  be  cited  in 
addition  to  these.  The  governments  of  France  and  America  both  levy 
taxes  of  this  kind,  which  weigh  upon  the  citizens;  but  who  can  esti 
mate  with  accuracy  their  relative  amount  in  the  two  countries  ? 

This,  however,  is  not  the  last  of  the  difficulties  which  prevent  us 
from  comparing  the  expenditure  of  the  Union  with  that  of  France. 
The  French  government  contracts  certain  obligations  which  do  not 
exist  in  America,  and  vice  versa.  The  "French  government  pays  the 
clergy  ;  in  America,  the  voluntary  principle  prevails.  In  America, 
there  is  a  legal  provision  for  the  poor  ;  in  France  they  are  abandoned 
to  the  charity  of  the  public.  The  French  public  officers  are  paid  by  a 
fixed  salary  :  in  America  they  are  allowed  certain  perquisites.  In 
France,  contributions  in  kind  take  place  on  very  few  roads ;  in  Ame 
rica  upon  almost  all  the  thoroughfares  :  in  the  former  country  the 


224  GOVERNMENT    QF    THE 

Hence  we  must  conclude,  that  it  is  no  less  difficult  to  com- 
pare  the  social  expenditure,  than  it  is  to  estimate  the  relative 
wealth  of  France  and  of  America.  I  will  even  add,  that  if 
would  be  dangerous  to  attempt  this  comparison  ;  for  when 
statistics  are  not  founded  upon  computations  which  are  strictly 
accurate,  they  mislead  instead  of  guiding  aright.  The  miu<? 
is  easily  imposed  upon, by  the  false  affectation  of  exactitude 
which  prevails  even  in  the  mis-statements  of  the  science,  and 
adopts  with  confidence  the- errors  which  are  apparelled  in  the 
forms  of  mathematical  truth. 

We  abandon,  therefore,  our  numerical  investigation,  with 
the  hope  of  meeting  with  data  of  another  kind.  In  tjie  ab 
sence  of  positive  documents,  we  may  form  an  opinion  as  to 
the  proportion  which  the  taxation  of  a  people  bears  to  its  real 
prosperity,  by  observing  whether  its  external  appearance  is 
flourishing ;  whether,  after  having  discharged  the  calls  of  the 
state,  the  poor  man  retains  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  the 
rich  the  means  of  enjoyment ;  and  whether  both  classes  are. 
contented  with  their  position,  seeking  however  to  meliorate  it 
by  perpetual  exertions,  so  that  industry  is  never  in  want  of 
capital,  nor  capital  unemployed  by  industry.  The  observer 
who  draws  his  inferences  from  these  signs  will,  undoubtedly, 
be  led  to  the  conclusion,  that\the  American  of  the  United 
States  contributes  a  much  smaller  portion  of  his  income  to  the 
state  than  the  citizen  of  FranceXjN'or,  indeed,  can  the  result 
be  otherwise. 

A  portion  of  the  French  debt  is  the  consequence  of  two  suc 
cessive  invasions ;  and  the  Union  has  no  similar  calamity  to 
fear.  A  nation  placed  upon  the  continent  of  Europe  is 
obliged  to  maintain  a  large  standing  army  ;  the  isolated  posi 
tion  of  the  Union  enables  it  to  have  only  6,000  soldiers. 
The  French  have  a  fleet  of  300  sail ;  the  Americans  have 
52  vessels.*  How,  then,  can  the  inhabitant  of  the  Union  be 
called  upon  to  contribute  as  largely  as  the  inhabitant  of 
France  1  No  parallel  can  be  drawn  between  the  finances  of 
two  countries  so  differently  situated. 

It  is  by  examining  what  actually  takes  place  in  the  Union, 
and  not  by  comparing  the  Union  with  France,  that  we  may 

roads  are  free  to  all  travellers :  in  the  latter  turnpikes  abound.  All 
these  differences  in  manner  in*  which  contributions  are  levied  in  the 
two  countries,  enhance  the  difficulty  of  comparing  their  expenditure  ; 
for  there  are  certain  expenses  which  the  citizens  would  not  be  sub 
jected  to,  or  which  would  at  any  rate  be  much  less  considerable,  if  the 
state  did  no;  take  upon  itself  to  act  in  the  name  of  the  public. 

*  See  the  details  in  the  budget  of  the  French  minister  of  marine; 
and  for,  America,  the  National  Calendar  of  1833,  p.  228. 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  225 

discover  whether  the  American  government  is  really  econo 
mical.  On  casting  my  eyes  over  the  different  republics  which 
form  the  confederation,  1  perceive  that  \heir  governments  lack 
perseverance  in  their  undertakings,  and  that  they  exercise  no 
steady  control  over  the  men  whom  they  employ.  Whence  I 
naturally  infer,  that  they  must  often  spend  the  money  of  the 
people  to  no  purpose,  or  consume  more  of  it  than  is  really 
necessary  to  their  undertakings^  Great  efforts  are  made,  in 
accordance  with  the  democratic  origin  of  society,  to  satisfy 
the  exigencies  of  the  lower  orders,  to  open  the  career  of  power 
to  their  endeavors,  and  to  diffuse  knowledge  and  comfort 
among  them.  The  poor  are  maintained,  immense  sums  are 
annually  dc; voted  to  public  instruction,  all  services  whatso 
ever  are  remunerated,  and  the  most  subordinate  agents  are 
liberally,  paid.  If  this  kind  of  government  appears  to  me  to 
be  useful  and  rational,  I  am  nevertheless  constrained  to  admit 
that  it  is  expensive. 

Wherever  the  poor  direct  public  affairs  and  dispose  of  the 
national  n  sources,  it  appears  certain,  that  as  they  profit  by 
the  expi  nditure  of  the  state,  they  are  apt  to  augment  that  ex 
penditure. 

<d.  conclude  there fore^Xvithout  having  recourse  to  inaccurate 
computations,  and  without  hazarding  a  comparison  which 
might  prove  incorrect,  tha^10  democratic  government  of  the 
Americans  is  not  a  cheap  government,  as  is  sometimes  as- 
sertfidTh^tid  I  have  no  hesitation  in  predicting,  that  if  the  peo 
ple  of  {fie  United  States  is  ever  involved  imperious  difficulties, 
its  taxation  will  speedily  be  increased  to  the  rate  of  that  which 
prevails  in  the  greater  part  of  the  aristocracies  and  the  mo 
narchies  o 


AND   VICES   OF  THE   RULERS   IN  A   DEMOCRACY,  AND 
CONSEQUENT    EFFECTS    UPON    PUBLIC    MORALITY. 

In  Arist:  •-  •   ^s  Rulers  sometimes  endeavor  to  corrupt  thp  People. — In 

Demi--)  s  Rulers  frequently  show  themselves  to  he  corrupt. — In 

the  t'  n:  r  i  heir  Vices  are  directly  prejudicial  to  the  Morality  of  the 

Pen   1  hi  the  latter  their  indirect  Influence  is  still  more  per 
nicious 

A  DISTI.V  ;  >N  must  be  made,  when  the  aristocratic  and  the 
democratic  principles  mutually  inveigh  against  each  other, 
as  tend,;  _r  TO  facilitate  corruption.  In  aristocratic  govern 
ments  thr  individuals  who  are  placed  at  the  head  of  affairs 
15 


228  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

are  rich  men,  who  are  solely  desirous  of  power.  \Jn  democra 
cies  statesmen  are  poor,  and  they  have  their  fortunes  to  make^> 
The  consequence  is,  that  in  aristocratic  states  the  rulers  are 
to  corruption  T  and  have  very  little  craving 


for   money  ;  while   the   reverse  is  the  case  in   democratic 
nations. 

But  in  aristocracies,  as  those  who  are  desirous  of  arriving 
at  the  head  of  affairs  are  possessed  of  considerable  wealth, 
and  as  the  number  of  persons  by  whose  assistance  they  may 
rise  is  comparatively  small,  the  government  is,  if  I  may  use 
the  expression,  put  up  to  a  sort  of  auction.  \In  democracies, 
on  the  contrary,  those  who  are  covetous  of  power  are  very 
wealthy,  and  the  number  of  citizens  who  confer  that 


^ 

power  is  extremely  grea£>  Perhaps  in  democracies  the  num 
ber  of  men  who  might  be  bought  is  by  no  means  smaller,  but 
buyers  are  rarely  to  be  met  with;  and,  besides,  it  would  be 
rj£jc£ssary._lo  buy  so  many  persons  at  once,  that  the  attempt  is 
rendered  nugatory.  . 

Many  of  the  men  who  have  been  in  the  administration  in 
France  during  the  last  forty  years,  have  been  accused  of 
making  their  fortunes  at  the  expense  of  the  state  or  of  its 
allies  ;  a  reproach  which  was  rarely  addressed  to  the  public 
characters  of  the  ancient  monarchy.  But  in  France  the 
practice  of  bribing  electors  is  almost  unknown,  while  it  is  no 
toriously  and  publicly  carried  on  in  England.  In  the  United 
States  I  never  heard  a  man  accused  of  spending  his  wealth  in 
corrupting  the  populace  ;  but  I  have  often  heard  the  probity 
of  public  officers  questioned  ;  still  more  frequently  have  I 
heard  their  success  attributed  to  low  intrigues  and  immoral 
practices. 

<^If,  then,  the  men  who  conduct  the  government  of  an  aristo 
cracy  sometimes  endeavor  to  corrupt  the  people,  the  heads  of 
a  democracy  are  themselves  corrupfrvjn  the  former  case  the 
morality  of  the  people  is  directly  assailed  ;  in  the  latter,  an 
indirect  influence  is  exercised  upon  the  people,  which  is  still 
mora  to  be  dreaded. 

As  the  rulers  of  democratic  nations  are  almost  always  ex 
posed  to  the  suspicion  of  dishonorable  conduct,  they  in  some 
measure  lend  the  authority  of  the  government  to  the  base 
practices  of  which  they  are  accused.  They  thus  afford  an 
example  which  must  prove  discouraging  to  the  struggles  of 
virtuous  independence,  and  must  foster  the  secret  calcula 
tions  of  a  vicious  ambition.  If  it  be  asserted  that  evil  pas 
sions  are  displayed  in  all  ranks  of  society  ;  that  they  ascend 
the  throne  by  hereditary  right  ;  and  that  despicable  charac- 


DEMOCRACY   IN    AMERICA.  227 

ters  are  to  be  met  with  at  the  head  of  aristocratic  nations  as 
well  as  in  the  sphere  of  a  democracy  ;  this  objection  has  but 
little  weight  in  my  estimation.  /The  corruption  of  men  who 
have  casually  risen  to  power  has*h  coarse  and  vulgar  infec 
tion  in  it,  which  renders  it  contagious  to  the  multitude>  On 
the  contrary,  there  is  a  kind  of  aristocratic  refinement,  and  an 
air  of  grandeur,  in  the  depravity  of  the  great,  which  frequently 
prevents  it  from  spreading  abroad. 

The  people  can  never  penetrate  the  perplexing  labyrinth 
of  court  intrigue,  and  it  will  always  have  difficulty  in  detect, 
ing  the  turpitude  which  lurks  under  elegant  manners,  refined 
tastes,  and  graceful  language.  But  to  pillage  the  public 
purse,  and  to  vend  the  favors  of  the  state,  are  arts  which  the 
meanest  villain  may  comprehend,  and  hope  to  practise  in 
his  turn. 

In  reality  it  is  far  less  prejudicial  to  be  a  witness  to  the 
immorality  ofjhe  great,  than  to  that  immorality  which  leads 
to  greatness.<^Jn  a  democracy,  private  citizens  see  a  man  of 
their  own  rank  in  life,  wjjo  rises  from  that  obscure  position, 
and  who  becomes  possessed  of  riches  and  of  power  in  a  few 
years  :  the  spectacle  excites  their  surprise  and  their  envy : 
and  they  are  led  to  inquire  how  the  ^person  who  was  yester 
day  their  equal,  is  to-day  their  ruler\^  To  attribute  his  rise 
to  his  talents  or  his  virtues  is  unpleasant ;  for  it  is  tacitly  to 
acknowledge  that  they  are  themselves  less  virtuous  and  less 
talented  than  he  was.  They  are  therefore  led  (ami  not  un- 
frequently  their  conjecture  is  a  correct  one)  toumpute  his 
success  mainly  to  some  of  his  defects  ;  and  an  oaious  mix 
ture  is  thus  formed  of  the  ideas  of  turpitude  and  power,  un- 
worthiness  and  success,  utility  and  dishonor.^ 


EFFORTS  OF  WHICH  A  DEMOCRACY  IS  CAPABLE. 

The  Union  has  only  had  one  struggle  hitherto  for  its  Existence. — En 
thusiasm  at  the  Commencement  of  the  War. — Indifference  toward  its 
Close. — Difficulty  of  establishing  a  military  Conscription  or  impress 
ment  of  Seamen  in  America. — Why  a  democratic  People  is  less  ca 
pable  of  sustained  Effort  than  another. 

I  HERE  warn  the  reader  that  I  speak  of  a  government  which 
implicitly  follows  the  real  desires  of  the  people,  and  not  of  a 
government  which  simply  commands  in  its  name.  Nothing 
is  so  irresistible  as  a  tyrannical  power  commanding  in  the 
name  of  the  peoole,  because,  while  it  exercises  that  moral 


228  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

influence  which  belongs  to  the  decisions  of  the  majority,  it 
acts  at  the  same  time  with  the  promptitude  and  the  tenacity 
of  a  single  man. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  degree  of  exertion  a  democratic 
government  may  be  capable  of  making,  at  a  crisis  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  nation.  But  no  great  democratic  republic  has 
hitherto  existed  in  the  world.  To  style  the  oligarchy  which 
ruled  over  France  in  1793,  by  that  name,  would  be  to  offer 
an  insult  to  the  republican  form  of  government.  The  United 
States  aiford  the  first  example  of  the  kind. 

The  American  Union  has  now  subsisted  for  half  a  century, 
in  the  course  of  which  time  its  existence  has  only  once  been 
attacked,  namely,  during  the  war  of  independence.  At  the 
commencement  of  that  long  war,  various  occurrences  took 
place  which  betokened  an  extraordinary  zeal  for  the  service 
of  the  country.*  But  as  the  contest  was  prolonged,  symp 
toms  of  private  egotism  began  to  show  themselves.  No  money 
was  poured  into  the  public  treasury;  few  recruits  could  be 
raised  to  join  the  army ;  the  people  wished  to  acquire  inde 
pendence,  but  was  very  ill  disposed  to  undergo  the  privations 
by  which  alone  it  could  be  obtained.  "  Tax  laws,"  says 
Hamilton  in  the  Federalist  (No.  12),  "  have  in  vain  been 
multiplied ;  new  methods  to  enforce  the  collection  have  in 
vain  been  tried ;  the  public  expectation  has  been  uniformly 
disappointed  ;  and  the  treasuries  of  the  states  have  remained 
empty.  The  popular  system  of  administration  inherent  in 
the  nature  of  popular  government,  coinciding  with  the  real 
scarcity  of  money  incident  to  a  languid  and  mutilated  state 
of  trade,  has  hitherto  defeated  every  experiment  for  extensive 
collections,  and  has  at  length  taught  the  different  legislatures 
the  folly  of  attempting  them." 

The  United  States  have  not  had  any  serious  war  to  carry 
on  since  that  period.  ^In  order,  therefore,  to  appreciate  the 
sacrifices  which  democratic  nations  may  impose  upon  them 
selves,  we  must  wait  until  the  American  people  is  obliged  to 
put  half  its  entire  income  at  the  disposal  of  the  government, 
as  was  done  by  the  English ;  or  until  it  sends  forth  a  twen 
tieth  part  of  its  population  to  the  field  of  battle,  as  was  done 
by  France7)\ 

In  America  the  use  of  conscription  is  unknown,  and  men 

*  One  of  the  most  singular  of  these  occurrences  was  the  resolution 
which  the  Americans  took  of  temporarily  abandoning  the  use  of  tea. 
Those  who  know  that  men  usually  cling  more  to  their  habits  than  to 
their  life,  will  doubtless  admire  this  great  and  obscure  sacrifice  which 
was  made  by  a  whole  people. 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  229 

are  induced  to  enlist  by  bounties.  The  notions  and  habits 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  so  opposed  to  compul 
sory  enlistments,  that  I  do  not  imagine  that  it  can  ever  be 
sanctioned  by  the  laws.  What  is  termed  the  conscription  in 
France  is  assuredly  the  heaviest  tax  upon  the  population  of 
that  country ;  yet  how  could  a  great  continental  war  be  car 
ried  on  without  it  ?  The  Americans  have  not  adopted  the 
British  impressment  of  seamen,  and  they  have  nothing  which 
corresponds  to  the  French  system  of  maritime  conscription  ; 
the  navy,  as  well  as  the  merchant  service,  is  supplied  by 
voluntary  engagement.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  how  a 
people  can  sustain  a  great  maritime  war,  without  having  re 
course  to  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  systems.  Indeed,  the 
Union,  which  has  fought  with  some  honor  upon  the  seas,  has 
never  possessed  a  very  numerous  fleet,  and  the  equipment  of 
the  small  number  of  American  vessels  has  always  been  ex 
cessively  expensive. 

SThe  remark  that  "  in  America  the  use  of  conscription  is  unknown, 
men  are  induced  to  enlist  by  bounties,"  is  not  exactly  correct. 
During  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  the  state  of  New  York,  in  Oc 
tober,  1814  (see  the  laws  of  that  session,  p.  1')),  passed  an  act  to  raise 
troops  for  the  defence  of  the  state,  in  which  the  whole  body  of  the 
militia  were  directed  to  be  classed,  and  each  class  to  furnish  one  sol 
dier,  so  as  to  make  up  the  whole  number  of  12,000  directed  to  be 
raised.  In  case  of  the  refusal  of  a  class  to  furnish  a  man,  one  was  to 
be  detached  from  them  by  ballot,  and  was  compelled  to  procure  a  sub 
stitute  or  serve  personally.  The  intervention  of  peace  rendered  pro 
ceedings  under  the  act  unnecessary,  and  we  have  not,  therefore,  the 
light  of  experience  to  form  an  opinion  whether  such  a  plan  of  raising 
a  military  force  is  practicable.  Other  states  passed  similar  laws.  The 
system  of  classing  was  borrowed  from  the  practice  of  the  revolution. 
— American  Editor.] 

I  have  heard  American  statesmen  confess  that  the  Union 
will  have  great  difficulty  in  maintaining  its  rank  on  the  seas, 
without  adopting  the  system  of  impressment  or  of  maritime 
conscription  ;  (but  the  difficulty  is  to  induce  the  people,  which 
exercises  the  supreme  authority,  to  submit  to  impressment  or 
any  compulsory  system^. 

It  is  incontestable,  that  in  times  of  danger  a  free  people 
displays  far  more  energy  than  one  which  is  not  so.  But  J 
incline  to  believe,  that  this  is  more  especially  the  case  in 
those  free  nations  in  which  the  democratic  element  prepon 
derates.  Democracy  appears  to  me  to  be  much  better  adapt 
ed  for  the  peaceful  conduct  of  society,  or  for  an  occasional 
effort  of  remarkable  vigor,  than  for  the  hardy  and  prolonged 
endurance  of  the  storms  which  beset  the  political  existence 


230  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

of  nations.  The  reason  is  very  evident ;  it  is  enthusiasm 
which  prompts  men  to  expose  themselves  to  dangers  and 
privations ;  but  they  will  not  support  them  long  without  re 
flection  There  is  more  calculation,  even  in  the  impulses 
of  bravery,  than  is  generally  attributed  to  them  ;  and  al 
though  the  first  efforts.,  are  suggested  by  passion^ersevorance 
is  maintained  by  a  distinct  regard  of  the  purpose  in  view^  A 
portion  of  what  we  value  is  exposed,  in  order  to  save  the 
remainder. 

But  it  is  this  distinct  perception  of  the  future,  founded  upon 
a  sound  judgment  and  an  enlightened  experience,  which  is 
most  frequently  wanting  in  Hprnocrfl,cieF-  ^The  populace  is 
ID"1'0  fjpti  tn  fefil  than  fo  reason  ;  and  if  its  present  sufferings 
are  great,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  still  greater  sufferings  at 
tendant  upon  defeat  will  be  forgotten. 

Another  cause  tends  to  render  the  efforts  of  a  democratic 
government  less  persevering  than  those  of  an  aristocracy. 
\Not  only  are  the  lower  classes  less  awakened  than  the  higher 
orders  to  the  good  or  evil  chances  of  the  future,  but  they  are 
liable  to  suffer  far  more  acutely  from  present  prvationsX 
The  noble  exposes  his  life,  indeed,  but  the  chance  of  glory  is 
equal  to  the  chance  of  harm.  If  he  sacrifices  a  large  por 
tion  of  his  income  to  the  state,  he  deprives  himself  for  a  time 
of  the  pleasure  of  affluence  ;  but  to  the  poor  man  death  is 
embellished  by  no  pomp  or  renown  ;  and  the  imposts  which 
are  irksome  to  the  rich  are  fatal  to  him. 

This  relative  impotence  of  democratic  republics  is,  per 
haps,  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  foundation  of  a  republic  of 
this  kind  in  Europe.  In  order  that  such  a  state  should  sub 
sist  in  one  country  of  the  Old  World,  it  would  be  necessary 
that  similar  institutions  should  be  introduced  into  all  the  other 
nations. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  a  democratic  government  tends  in  the 
end  to  increase  the  real  fitrpngth _pf  gnni^fy  •  Vmt  it  can  never 
combine,  upon  a  single  point  and  at  a  given  time,  so  much 
power  as  an  aristocracy  or  a  monarchy.  If  a  democratic 
country  remained  during  a  whole  century  subject  to  a  re 
publican  government,  it  would  probably  at  the  end  of  that 
period  be  more  populous  and  more  prosperous  than  the  neigh 
boring  despotic  states.  But  it  would  have  incurred  the  risk 
of  being  conquered  much  oftener  than  they  would  in  that 
lapse  of  years. 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMERICA.  231 


SELF-CONTROL    OF    THE   AMERICAN    DEMOCRACY. 

The  American  People  acquiesces  slowly,  or  frequently  does  not  acqui 
esce  in  what  is  beneficial  to  its  Interests. — The  faults  of  the  Ameri 
can  Democracy  are  for  the  most  part  reparable. 

THE  difficulty  which  a  democracy  has  in  conquering  the  pas 
sions,  and  in  subduing  the  exigencies  of  the  moment,  with  a 
view  to  the  future,  is  conspicuous  in  the  most  trivial  occur 
rences  in  the  United  States.  The  people  which  is  sunound- 
ed  by  flatterers^as  great  difficulty  in  surmounting  its  incli 
nation^  and  whenever  it  is  solicited  to  undergo  a  privation 
or  any  kind  of  inconvenience,  even  to  attain  an  end  which  is 
sanctioned  by  its  own  rational  conviction,  it  almost  always 
refuses  to  comply  at  first.  The  deference  of  the  Americans 
to  the  laws  has  been  very  justly  applauded  ;  but  it  must  be 
added,  that  in  America  the  legislation  is  made  by  the  people 
and  for  the  people.  Consequently,  in  the  United  States,  the 
law  favors  those  classes  which  are  most  interested  in  evading 
it  elsewhere.  It  may  therefore  be  supposed  that  an  offensive 
law,  which  should  not  be  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  imme- 
dite  utility,  would  either  not  be  enacted  or  would  not  be 
obeyed. 

In  America  there  is  no  law  against  fraudulent  bankrupt 
cies  ;  not  because  they  are  few,  but  because  there  are  a  great 
number  of  bankruptcies.  The  dread  of  being  prosecuted  as 
a  bankrupt  acts  with  more  intensity  upon  the  mind  of  the 
majority  of  the  people,  than  the  fear  of  being  involved  in 
losses  or  ruin  by  the  failure  of  other  parties  ;  and  a  sort  of 
guilty  tolerance  is  extended  by  the  public  conscience,  to  an 
offence  which  every  one  condemns  in  his  individual  capacity. 
In  the  new  states  of  the  southwest,  the  citizens  generally  take 
justice  into  their  own  hands,  and  murders  are  of  very  fre 
quent  occurrence.  This  arises  from  the  rude  manners  and 
the  ignorance  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  deserts,  who  do  not 
perceive  the  utility  of  investing  the  law  with  adequate  force, 
and  who  prefer  duels  to  prosecutions. 

Some  one  observed  to  me  one  day,  in  Philadelphia,  that 
almost  all  crimes  in  America  are  caused  by  the  abuse  of  in 
toxicating  liquors,  which  the  lower  classes  can  procure  in 
great  abundance  from  their  excessive  cheapness. — "  How 
comes  it,"  said  I,  "  that  you  do  not  put  a  duty  upon  brandy  ?" 
— "  Our  legislators,"  rejoined  my  informant,  "  have  frequent 
ly  thought  of  this  expedient ;  but  the  task  of  putting  it  in 
operation  is  a  difficult  one  :  a  revolt  might  be  apprehended ; 


232  GOVERNMENT   OF    THE 

and  the  members  who  should  vote  for  a  law  of  this  kind 
would  be  sure  of  losing  their  seats." — "  Whence  I  am  to  in 
fer,"  I  replied,  "  that  the  drinking  population  constitutes  the 
majority  in  your  country  and  that  temperance  is  somewhat 
unpopular." 

When  these  things  are  pointed  out  to  the  American  states 
men,  they  content  themselves  with^issuring  you  that  time 
will  operate  the  necessary  change,  and  that  the  experienced 

fiyil  'will  t.pa«Vh  i\\r*  ppnnlp  i^ty  trjip  infftrpstss.  This  IS  fre 
quently  true ;  although  a  democracy  is  more  liable  to  error 
than  a  monarch  or  a  body  of  nobles,  the  chances  of  its  re 
gaining  the  right  path,  when  once  it  has  acknowledged  its 
mistake,  are  greater  also ;  because  it  is  rarely  embarrassed 
by  internal  interests,  which  conflict/with  those  of  the  majority, 
and  resist  the  authority  of  reason.  ^But  a  democracy  can  only 
obtain  truth  as  the  result  of  experience  ;  and  many  nations 
may  forfeit  their  existence,  while  they  are  awaiting  the  con 
sequences  of  their  errors/S 

The  great  privilege  of  the  Americans  does  not  simply  con 
sist  in  their  being  more  enlightened  than  other  nations,  but  in 
their  being  able  to  repair  the  faults  they  may  commit.  To 
which  it  must  be  added,  that  a  democracy  cannot  deri .  vejsub- 
stantial  benefit  from  past  experience,  unless  it  be  arrived  at  a 
certain  pitch  of  knowledge  and  civilisation.  There  are  tribes 
and  peoples  whose  education  has  been  so  vicious,  and  whose 
character  presents  so  strange  a  mixture  of  passion,  of  igno 
rance,  and  of  erroneous  notions  upon  all  subjects,  that  they 
are  unatfle  to  discern  the  cause  of  their  own  wretchedness, 
and  they  fall  a  sacrifice  to  ills  with  which  they  are  unac 
quainted. 

I  have  crossed  vast  tracts  of  country  that  were  formerly 
inhabited  by  powerful  Indian  nations  which  are  now  extinct ; 
I  have  myself  passed  some  time  in  the  midst  of  mutilated 
tribes,  which  see  the  daily  decline  of  their  numerical  strength, 
and  of  the  glory  of  their  independence  ;  and  I  have  heard 
these  Indians  themselves  anticipate  the  impending  doom  of 
their  race.  Every  European  can  perceive  means  which 
would  rescue  these  unfortunate  beings  from  inevitable  des 
truction.  They  alone  are  insensible  to  the  expedient ;  they 
feel  the  wo  which  year  after  year  .heaps  upon  their  heads,  but 
they  will  perish  to  a  man  without  accepting  the  remedy.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  employ  force  to  induce  them  to  submit 
to  the  protection  and  the  constraint  of  civilisation. 

The  incessant  revolutions  which  have  convulsed  the  South 
\merican  provinces  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  have 


DEMOCRACY    IN    AMER.'-CA.  233 

frequently  been  adverted  to  with  astonishment,  and  expecta 
tions  have  been  expressed  that  those  nations  would  speedily 
return  to  their  natural  state.  But  can  it  be  affirmed  that  the 
turmoil  of  revolution  is  not  actually  the  most  natural  state  of 
the  South  American  Spaniards  at  the  present  time  ?  In  that 
country  society  is  plunged  into  difficulties  from  which  all  its 
efforts  are  insufficient  to  rescue  it.  The  inhabitants  of  that 
fair  portion  of  the  western  hemisphere  seem  obstinately  bent 
on  pursuing  the  work  of  inward  havoc.  If  they  fall  into  a 
momentary  repose  from  the  effects  of  exhaustion,  that  repose 
prepares  them  for  a  fresh  state  of  phrensy.  When  I  consider 
their  condition,  which  alternates  between  misery  and  crime, 
I  should  be  inclined  to  believe  that  despotism  itself  would  be  a 
benefit  to  them,  if  it  were  possible  that  the  words  despotism 
and  benefit  could  ever  be  united  in  my  mind. 


CONDUCT  OF    FOREIGN  AFFAIRS    BY  THE    AMERICAN    DEMOCRACY. 

Direction  given  to  the  foreign  Policy  of  the  United  States  by  Wash 
ington  and  Jefferson. — Almost  all  the  defects  inherent  in  democratic 
Institutions  are  brought  to  light  in  the  Conduct  of  foreign  Affairs. — 
Their  advantages  are  less  perceptible. 

WE  have  seen  that  the  federal  constitution  intrusts  the  per 
manent  direction  of  the  external  interests  of  the  nation  to  the 
president  and  the  senate  ;*  which  tends  in  some  degree  to  de 
tach  the  general  foreign  policy  of  the  Union  from  the  control 
of  the  people.  It  cannot  therefore  be  asserted,  with  truth, 
that  the  external  affairs  of  state  are  conducted  by  the  derno- 
qracy. 

The  policy  of  America  owes  its  rise  to  Washington,  and 
after  him  to  Jefferson,  who  established  those  principles  which 
it  observes  at  the  present  day.  Washington  said,  in  the  ad 
mirable  letter  which  he  addressed  to  his  fellow-citizens,  and 
which  may  be  looked  upon  as  his  political  bequest  to  the 
country  : — 

"  The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us  in  regard  to  foreign  na 
tions  is,  extending  our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with 
them  as  little  political  connexion  as  possible.  So  far  as  we 

*  "  The  president,"  says  the  constitution,  art.  ii.,  sect.  2,  §  2,  "  shall 

have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  to  make 

treaties,  provided   two-thirds  of  the  senators  present  concur."     The 

reader  is  reminded  that  the  senators  are  returned  for  a  term  of  six  years, 

nd  that  they  are  chosen  by  the  legislature  of  each  state. 


234  GOVERNMENT    OF    THI 

nave  already  formed  engagements,  let  them  be  fulfilled  \vith 
perfect  good  faith.  Here  let  us  stop. 

"  Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which  to  us  have 
none,  or  a  very  remote  relation.  Hence,  she  must  be  engaged 
in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes  of  which  are  essentially 
foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence,  therefore,  it  must  be  unwise 
in  us  to  implicate  ourselves,  by  artificial  ties,  in  the  ordinary 
vicissitudes  of  her  politics,  or  the  ordinary  combinations  and 
collisions  of  her  friendships  or  enmities. 

"  Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  enables  us 
to  pursue* a  different  course.  If  we  remain  one  people,  under 
an  efficient  government,  the  period  is  not  far  off  when  we 
may  defy  material  injury  from  external  annoyance ;  when 
we  may  take  such  an  attitude  as  will  cause  the  neutrality  we 
may  at  any  time  resolve  upon  to  be  scrupulously  respected  j 
when  belligerent  nations,  under  the  impossibility  of  making 
acquisitions  upon  us,  will  not  lightly  hazard  the  giving  us 
provocation  ;  when  we  may  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our  inte 
rest,  guided  by  justice,  shall  counsel. 

"  Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation  ? 
Why  quit  our  own  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground  ?  Why,  by 
interweaving  our  destiny  with  that  of  any  part  of  Europe, 
entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European 
ambition,  rivalship,  interest,  humor,  or  caprice  ? 

"  It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent  alliances 
with  any  portion  of  the  foreign  world  ;  so  far,  I  mean,  as  we 
are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it ;  for  let  me  not  be  understood  as 
capable  of  patronising  infidelity  to  existing  engagements.  I 
hold  the  maxim  no  less  applicable  to  public  than  to  private 
affairs,  that  honesty  is  always  the  best  policy.  I  repeat  it, 
therefore,  let  those  engagements  be  observed  in  their  genuine 
sense ;  but  in  my  opinion  it  is  unnecessary,  and  would  be 
unwise,  to  extend  them. 

"  Taking  caYe  always  to  keep  ourselves,  by  suitable  esta 
blishments,  in  a  respectable  defensive  posture,  we  may  safely 
trust  to  temporary  alliances  for  extraordinary  emergencies." 
^ln  a  previous  part  of  the  same  letter,  Washington  makes 
the  following  admirable  and  just  remark  :  "  The  nation  which 
indulges  toward  another  an  habitual  hatred,  or  an  habitual 
fondness,  is,  in  some  degree,  a  slaveV  It  is  a  slave  to  its  ani 
mosity  or  its  affection,  either  of  which  is  sufficient  to  lead  it 
astray  from  its  duty  and  its  interest." 

The  political  conduct  of  Washington  was  always  guided 
by  these  maxims.  He  succeeded  in  maintaining  his  country 
in  a  state  of  peace,  while  all  the  other  nations  of  the  globe 


DEMOCRACY    IN   AMERICA.  235 

were  at  war  ;  and  he  laid  it  down  as  a  fundamental  doctrine, 
that  the  true  interest  of  the  Americans  consisted  in  a  perfect 
neutrality  with  regard  to  the  internal  dissensions  of  the  Eu 
ropean  powers. 

Jefferson  went  still  farther,  and  introduced  a  maxirn  into 
the  policy  of  the  Union,  which  affirms,  that  "  the  Americans 
ought  never  to  solicit  any  privileges  from  foreign  nations,  in 
order  not  to  be  obliged  to  grant  similar  privileges  themselves." 

These  two  principles,  which  were  so  plain  and  so  just  as 
to  be  adapted  to  the  capacity  of  the  populace,  have  greatly 
simplified  the  foreign  policy  of  the  United  States.  As  the 
Union  takes  no  part  in  the  affairs  of  Europe,  it  has,  properly 
speaking,  no  foreign  interests  to  discuss,  since  it  has  at 
present  no  powerful  neighbors  on  the  American  continent. 
{  The  country  is  as  much  removed  from  the  passions  of  the 
<  Old  World  by  its  position,  as  by  the  line  of  policy  which  it 
\  has  chosen  ;  and  it  is  neither  called  upon  to  repudiate  nor  to 
espouse  the  conflicting  interests  of  Europe ;  while  the  dis 
sensions  of  the  New  World  are  still  concealed  within  the 
bosorn  of  the  future. 

The  Union  is  free  from  all  pre-existing  obligations  ;  and 
it  is  consequently  enabled  to  profit  by  the  experience  of  the 
old  nations  of  Europe,  without  being  obliged,  as  they  are,  to 
make  the  best  of  the  past,  and  to  adapt  it  to  their  present  cir 
cumstances  ;  or  to  accept  that  immense  inheritance  which 
they  derive  from  their  forefathers — an  inheritance  of  glory 
mingled  with  calamities,  and  of  alliances  conflicting  with 
national  antipathies.  </The  foreign  policy  of  the  United  States 
is  reduced  by  its  very  nature  to  await  the  chances  of  the 
future  history  of  the  nation  ;  and  for  the  present  it  consists 
more  in  abstaining  from  interference  than  in  exerting  its  ac 
tivity^ 

It  is  therefore  very  difficult  to  ascertain,  at  present,  what 
degree  of  sagacity  the  American  democracy  will  display  in 
the  conduct  of  the  foreign  policy  of  the  country  ;  and  upon 
this  point  its  adversaries,^  as  well  as  its  advocates,  must 
suspend  their  judgment.  <As  for  myself,  I  have  no  hesitation 
A\  avowing  my  conviction,  that  it  is  most  especially  in  the 
conduct  of  foreign  relations,  that  democratic  governments 
appear  to  me  to  be  decidedly  inferior  to  governments  carried 
on  upon  different  principles/  Experience,  instruction,  and 
habit,  may  almost  always  succeed  in  creating  a  species  of 
practical  discretion  in  democracies,  and  that  science  of  the 
daily  occurrences  of  life  which  is  called  good  sense.  Good 
sense  may  suffice  to  direct  the  ordinary  course  of  society ; 


236  GOVERNMENT    OF    THE 

and  among  a  people  whose  education  has  been  provided  for, 
the  advantages  of  democratic  liberty  in  the  internal  affairs  of 
the  country  may  more  than  compensate  for  the  evils  inherent 
in  a  democratic  government.  But  such  is  not  always  the 
case  in  the  mutual  relations  of  foreign  nations. 

Foreign  politics  demand  scarcely  any  of  those  qualities 
which  a  democracy  possesses  ;  and  they  require,  on  the  con 
trary,  the  perfect  use  of  almost  all  those  faculties  in  which  it 
is  deficient.  Democracy  is  favorable  to  the  increase  of  the 
internal  resources  of  a  state  ;  it  tends  to  diffuse  a  moderate 
independence  ;  it  promotes  the  growth  of  public  spirit,  and 
fortifies  the  respect  which  is  entertained  for  law  in  all  classes 
of  society  :  and  these  are  advantages  which/only  exercise  an 
indirect  influence  over  the  relations  which  one  people  bears 
to  another^,  But  a  democracy  is  unable  to  regulate  the  de 
tails  of  an  important  undertaking,  to  persevere  in  a  design. 
and  to  work  out  its  execution  in  the  presence  of  serious  ob 
stacles.  It  cannot  combine  its  measures  with  secrecy,  and 
will  not  await  their  consequences  with  patience.  These  are 
qualities  which  more  especially  belong  to  an  individual  or  to 
an  aristocracy  ;  and  they  are  precisely  the  means  by  which 
an  individual  people  attains  a  predominant  position. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  we  observe  the  natural  defects  of  aris 
tocracy,  we  shall  find  that  their  influence  is  comparatively 
innoxious  in  the  direction  of  the  external  affairs  of  a  state. 
The  capital  fault  of  which  aristocratic  bodies  may  be  accused, 
is  that  they  are  more  apt  to  contrive  their  own  advantage 
than  that  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  In  foreign  politics  it  is 
rare  for  the  interest  of  the  aristocracy  to  be  in  any  way  dis 
tinct  from  that  of  the  people. 

The  propensity  which  democracies  have  to  obey  the  im 
pulse  of  passion  rather  than  the  suggestions  of  prudence,  and 
to  abandon  a  mature  design  for  the  gratification  of  a  momen 
tary  caprice,  was  very  clearly  seen  in  America  on  the  break 
ing  out  of  the  French  revolution.  It  was  then  as  evident  to 
the?  simplest  capacity  as  it  is  at  the  present  time,  that  the  in 
terests  of  the  Americans  forbade  them  to  take  any  part  in  the 
contest  which  was  about  to  deluge  Europe  with  blood,  but 
which  could  by  no  means  injure  the  welfare  of  their  own 
country.  Nevertheless  the  sympathies  of  the  people  declared 
themselves  with  so  much  violence  in  behalf  of  France,  that 
nothing  but  the  inflexible  character  of  Washington,  and  the  im 
mense  popularity  which  he  enjoyed,  could  have  prevented 
the  Americans  from  declaring  war  against  England.  And 
even  then,  the  exertions,  which  the  austere  reason  of  that 


DEMOCRACY    "<N    AMERICA,  2?" 

great  man  made  to  repress  the  generous  but  imprudent  pas 
sions  of  his  fellow-citizens,  very  nearly  deprived  him  of  the 
sole  recompense  which  he  had  ever  claimed — that  of  his 
country's  love.  The  majority  then  reprobated  the  line  of 
policy  which  he  adopted,  and  which  has  since  been  unani 
mously  approved  by  the  nation.* 

If  the  constitution  and  the  favor  of  the  public  had  not  in 
trusted  the  direction  of  the  foreign  affairs  of  the  country  to 
Washington,  it  is  certain  that  the  American  nation  would  at 
Aat  time  have  taken  the  very  measures  which  it  now  con 
demns. 

Almost  all  the  nations  which  have  exercised  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  destinies  of  the  world,  by  conceiving,  fol 
lowing  up,  and  executing  vast  designs — from  the  Romans  to 
the  English — have  been  governed  by  aristocratic  institutions. 
Nor  will  this  be  a  subject  of  wonder  when  we  recollect  that 
nothing  in  the  world  has  so  absolute  a  fixity  of  purpose  as  an 
aristocracy.  The  mass  of  the  people  may  be  led  astray  by 
ignorance  or  passion  ;  the  mind  of  a  king  may  be  biased,  and 
his  perseverance  in  his  designs  may  be  shaken — beside  which 
a  king  is  not  immortal  ;  but  an  aristocratic  body  is  too  nume 
rous  to  be  led  astray  by  the  blandishments  of  intrigue,  and 
yet  not  numerous  enough  to  yield  readily  to  the  intoxicating 
influence  of  unreflecting  passion  :  it  has  the  energy  of  a  firm 
and  enlightened  individual,  added  to  the  power  which  it  de 
rives  from  its  perpetuity. 

*  See  the  fifth  volume  of  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington.  "  In  a  gov 
ernment  constituted  like  that  of  the  United  States,"  he  says,  "  it  is 
impossible  for  the  chief  magistrate,  however  firm  he  may  be,  to  op 
pose  for  any  length  of  time  the  torrents  of  popular  opinion  ;  and  the 
prevalent  opinion  of  that  day  seemed  to  incline  to  war.  In  fact,  in  the 
session  of  congress  held  at  the  time,  it  was  frequently  seen  that  Wash 
ington  had  lost  the  majority  in  the  house  of  representatives."  The  vio 
lence  of  the  language  used  against  him  in  public  was  extreme,  and  in 
a  political  meeting  they  did  not  scruple  to  compare  him  indirectly  to 
the  treacherous  Arnold.  "  By  the  opposition,"  says  Marshall,  "  the 
friends  of  the  administration  were  declared  to  be  an  aristocratic  and 
corrupt  faction,  who,  from  a  desire  to  introduce  monarchy,  were  hos 
tile  to  France,  and  under  the  influence  of  Britain  ;  that  they  were  a 
paper  nobility,  whose  extreme  sensibility  at  every  measure  which 
threatened  the  funds,  induced  a  tame  submission  to  injuries  and  in 
sults,  which  the  interests  and  honor  of  the  nation  required  them  to 
resist." 


238  ADVANTAGES   DERIVED   FROM   THE 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

WHAT    THE    REAL   ADVANTAGES  ARE  WHICH  AMERICAN    SOCIETY 
DERIVES    FROM    THE    GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    DEMOCRACY. 

BEFORE  I  enter  upon  the  subject  of  the  present  chapter,  I 
am  induced  to  remind  the  reader  of  what  I  have  more  than 
once  adverted  to  in  the  course  of  this  book.  The  political 
institutions  of  the  United  States  appear  to  me  to  be  one  of 
the  forms  of  government  which  a  democracy  may  adopt 
but  I  do  not  regard  the  American  constitution  as  the  best,  or 

the  only  one  which  a  democratic  people  may  establish. 

showing  the  advantages  which  the  Americans  derive  from 
the  government  of  democracy,  I  am  therefore  very  far  from 
meaning,  or  from  believing,  that  similar  advantages  can  be  ob 
tained  only  from  the 


GENERAL  TENDENCY;  OF  THE  AWS^  UNDER  THE  RULE  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  DEMOCRACY,  AND  HABITS  OF  THOSE  WHO  APPLY 
THEM. 

Defects  of  a  democratic  Government  easy  to  be  discovered. — Its  ad 
vantages  only  to  be  discerned  by  long  Observation, — Democracy  in 
America  often  inexpert,  but  the  general  Tendency  of  the  Laws  ad 
vantageous. — In  the  American  Democracy  public  Officers  have  no 
permanent  Interests  distinct  from  those  of  the  Majority. — Result  of 
this  State  of  Things. 

THE  defects  and  the  weaknesses  of  a  democratic  government 
may  very  readily  be  discovered  ;  they  are  demonstrated  by 
the  most  flagrant  instances,  while  its  beneficial  influence  is 
less  perceptibly  exercised.  A  single  glance  suffices  to  de 
tect  its  evil  consequences,  but  its  good  qualities  can  only  be 
discerned  by  long  observation.  The  laws  of  the  American 
democracy  are  frequently  defective  or  incomplete ;  they 
sometimes  attack  vested  rights,  or  give  a  sanction  to  others 
which  are  dangerous  to  the  community  ;  but  even  if  they 
were  good,  the  frequent  changes  which  they  undergo  would 
be  an  evil.  How  comes  it,  then,  that  the  American  republics 
prosper,  and  maintain  their  position  ? 

In  the  consideration  of  laws,  a  distinction  must  be  carefully 
observed  between  the  end  at  which  they  aim,  and  the  means 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  DEMOCRACY.          '230 

by  which  they  are  directed  to  that  end  ;  between  their  abso 
lute  and  their  relative  excellence.  If  it  be  the  intention  of 
the  legislator  to  favor  the  interests  of  the  minority  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  majority,  and  if  the  measures  he  takes  are  so 
combined  as  to  accomplish  the  object  he  has  in  view  with  the 
least  possible  expense  of  time  and  exertion,  the  law  may  be 
well  drawn  up,  although  its  purpose  be  bad  ;  and  the  more 
efficacious  it  is,  the  greater  is  the  mischief  which  it  causes. 

Democratic  laws  generally  tend  to  promote  the  welfare  nf 
the  greatest  possible  number  j  for  they  emanate  fi'Qifl  fi  ma 
jority  of  the  citizens,  who  are  subject  to  error,  but  who  can 
not  have  an  interest  opposed  to  their  own  advantage.  The 
laws  of  an  aristocracy  tend,  on  the  contrary,  to  concentrate 
wealth  and  power  in  the  hands  of  the  minority,  because  an 
aristocracy,  by  its  very  nature,  constitutes  a  minority.  It 
may  therefore  be  asserted,  as  a  general  proposition,  that  the 
purpose  of  a  democracy,  in  the  conduct  of  its  legislation,  is 
useful  to  a  greater  number  of  citizens  than  that  of  an  aristo 
cracy  X  This  is,  however,  the  sum  total  of  its  advan 
tages. 

Aristocracies  are  infinitely  more  expert  in  the  science  of 
legislation  than  democracies  ever  can  be.  They  are  pos 
sessed  of  a  self-control  which  protects  them  from  the  errors 
of  a  temporary  excitement ;  and  they  form  lasting  designs 
which  they  mature  with  the  assistance  of  favorable  opportu 
nities.  Aristocratic  government  proceeds  with  the  dexterity 
of  art ;  it  understands  how  to  make  the  collective  force  of 
all  its  laws  converge  at  the  same  time  to  a  given  point. 
Such  is  not  the  case  with  Democracies,,  whnspj  1aw«  nre.. Al 
most  always  ineffective,  or  inopportune.  The  means  of 
democracy  are  therefore  more  imperfect  than  those  of  aristo 
cracy,  and  the  measures  which  it  unwittingly  adopts  are  fre 
quently  opposed  to  its  own  cause  ;  but  the  object  it  has  in 
*riew  is  more  useful . 

Let  us  now  imagine  a  community  so  organized  by  nature, 
o^  by  its  constitution,  that  it  can  support  the  transitory  action 
of  bad  laws,  and  it  can  await,  without  destruction,  the  general 
tendency  of  the  legislation  :  we  shall  then  be  able  to  conceive 
that  a  democratic  government,  notwithstanding  its  defects, 
will  be  most  fitted  to  conduce  to  the  prosperity  of  this  com 
munity.  This  is  precisely  what  has  occurred  in  the  United 
States  ;  and  I  repeat,  what  I  have  before  remarked,  that  the 
4*reat  advantage  of  the  Americans  consists  in  their  being  able 
to  commit  faults  which  they  may  afterward  repair^ 

An  analogous  observation  may  be  made  respecting  public 


240  ADVANTAGES    DERIVED    FROM    THE 

officers.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  the  American  democracy 
frequently  errs  in  the  choice  of  the  individuals  to  whom  it 
in»rus'.s  the  power  of  the  administration;  but  it  is  more  diffi 
cult  to  say  why  the  state  prospers  un^er  their  rule.  In  the 
first  place  it  is  to  be  remarked,  that/I"  in  a  democratic  state 
the  governors  have  less  honesty  ancN  less  capacity  than  else 
where,  the  governed  on  the  othe'r  hand  are  more  enlightened  ?mH 
more  attentive  to  their  interests.^  As  the  people  in  democra 
cies  is  more  incessantly  vigilant  in  its  affairs,  and  more  jeal 
ous  of  its  rights,  it  prevents  its  representatives  from  abandon 
ing  that  general  line  of  conduct  which  its_  own  interest  pre 
scribes.  In  the  second  place,  it  must  be  remembered  that  if 
the  dprnnnratip.  ma cn'strate  is  jriorft  a.pt.  to  misijge,  }>is  pnwpr 
Ijg  pQSSPtSftfiS  ]f  for  q.  shnrtp.r  pp.rinH  nf  ti'nflp..  But  there  is  yet 

another  reason  which  is  still  more  general  and  conclusive.  It 
is  no  doubt  of  importance  to  the  welfare  of  nations  that  they 
should  be  governed  by  men  of  talents  and  virtue ;  but  it  is 
perhaps  ^till  more  important  that  the  interests  of  those  men 
should  not  differ  from  the  interests  of  the  community  at  large  ; 
for  if  such  were  the  case,  virtues  of  a  high  order  rriight 
become  useless,  and  talents  might  be  turned  to  a  bad  ac 
count. 

A  say  that  it  is  important  that  the  interests  of  the  persons  in 
authority  should  not  conflict  with  or  oppose  the  interests  of  th^ 
community  at  large\  but  I  do  not  insist  upon  their  having 
the  same  interests  'as  the  whole  population,  because  I  am 
not  aware  that  such  a  state  of  things  ever  existed  in  any 
country. 

No  political  form  has  hitherto  been  discovered,  which  is 
equally  favorable  to  the  prosperity  and  the  development  of  all 
the  classes  into  which  society  is  divided.  These  classes  con 
tinue  to  form,  as  it  were,  a  certain  number  of  distinct  nations 
in  the  same  nation ;  and  experience  has  shown  that  it  is  no 
less  dangerous  to  place  the  fate  of  these  classes  exclusively 
in  the  hands  of  any  one  of  them,  than  it  is  to  make  one  peo 
ple  the  arbiter  of  the  destiny  of  another.  When  the  rich 
alone  govern,  the  interest  of  the  poor  is  always  endangered  ; 
and  when  the  poor  make  the  laws,  that  of  the  rich  incurs 
very  serious  risks.  The  advantage  of  democrasy^Joes-Bot 
IM msist,  therefore,  as  has  been  sometimes  asserted,  in  favoring 
the  prosperity  of  all,  but  simply  in  contributing  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  greatest  possible  number. 

The  men  who  are  entrusted  with  the  direction  of  public 
affairs  in  the  United  States,  are  frequently  inferior,  both  in 
point  of  capacitv  and  or  morality,  to  those  whom  aristocratic 


GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    DEMOCRACY.  241 

nstitutions  would  raise  to  power.  But  their  interest  is  iden 
tified  and  confounded  with  that  of  the  majority  of  their  fellow, 
citizens.  /They  may  frequently  be  faithless,  and  frequently 
mistake ;  out  they  will  never  systematically  adopt  a  line  of 
conduct  opposedto  the  will  of  {he  majority^  and  it  is  impos 
sible  that  thrv  should  give  a  dangerous  or  an  exclusive  tenden 
cy  to  the  government. 

The  maladministration  of  a  democratic  magistrate  is  a 
mere  isolated  fact,  which  only  occurs  during  the  short  period 
for  which  he  is  elected.  Corruption  and  incapacity  do  not 
act  as  common  interests,  which  may  connect  men  permanent 
ly  with  one  another.  A  corrupt  or  an  incapable  magistrate 
will  concert  his  measures  with  another  magistrate,  simply  be 
cause  that  individual  is  as  corrupt  and  as  incapable  as  him 
self;  and  these  two  men  will  never  unite  their  endeavors  to 
promote  the  corruption  and  inaptitude  of  their  remote  poste 
rity.  The  ambition  and  manoeuvres  of  the  one  will  serve, 
on  the  contrary,  to  unmask  the  other.  The  vices  of  a  magis- 
trate7  in  democratic  states,  are  usually  peculiar  to  his  own 
person. 

But  under  aristocratic,  governments  public  men  are  swayed 
by  the  interests  of  their  order,  which,  if  it  is  sometimes  con 
founded  with  the  interests  of  the  majority,  is  very  frequently 
distinct  from  them.  QThis  interest  is  .the  common  and  lasting 
bond  which  unites  them  together  ;  it  induces  them  to  coalesce, 
and  to  CQipJ?i.ije,  .thsiLj^fioXtaio  order  to  attain  an  end  which 
does  not  always  ensure  the  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest 
number \  and  it  serves  not  only  to  connect  the  persons  in 
authority5-%ut  to  unite  them  to  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
community,  since  a  numerous  body  of  citizens  belongs  to  the 
aristocracy,  without  being  invested  with  official  functions. 
The  aristocratic  magistrate  is  therefore  constantly  supported 
by  a  portion  of  the  community,  as  well  as  by  the  government 
of  which  he  is  a  member. 

The  r.ommon  purpose  which  connects  the  interest  of  the 
magistrates  in  aristocracies,  with  that  of  a  portion  of  their 
contemporaries,  identifies  it  with  that  of  future  generations ; 
their  influence  belongs  to  the  future  as  much  as  to  the  present. 
The  aristocratic  magistrate  is  urged  at  the  same  time  toward 
the  same  point,  by  the  passions  of  the  community,  by  his  own, 
and  I  may  almost  add,  by  those  of  his  posterity.  Is  it,  then, 
wonderfuMhat  he  does  not  resist  such  repeated  impulses? 
And,  indeed,  aristocracies  are  often  carried  away  by  the  spirit 
of  their  order  without  being  corrupted  by  it  ;<(and  they  uncon- 
16 


242  ADVANTAGES    DERIVED   FROM    THE 

sciously  fashion  society  to  their  own  ends,  and  prepare  it  for 
their  own  descendants\ 

The  English  aristocracy  is  perhaps  the  most  liberal  which 
ever  existed,  and  no  body  of  men  has  ever,  uninterruptedly, 
furnished  so  many  honorable  and  enlightened  individuals  to 
the  government  of  a  country.  It  cannot,  however,  escape 
observation,  that  in  the  legislation  of  England  the/good  of  the 
poor  has  been  sacrificed  to  the  advantage  of  the  rich,  and  the 
rights  of  the  majority  to  the  privileges  of  the  few\  The  con 
sequence  is,  that  England,  at  the  present  day,  combines  the 
extremes  of  fortune  in  the  bosom  of  her  society ;  and  her 
perils  and  calamities  are  almost  equal  to  her  power  and  her 
repown. 

<"ln  the  United  States,  where  the  public  officers  have  no 
(*  interests  to  promote  connected  with  their  caste,  the  general 
^  and  constant  influence  of  the  government  is  beneficial,  although 
\  the  individuals  who  conduct  it  are  frequently  unskilful  arid 
sometimes  contemptible^  There  is,  indeed,  a  secret  tendency 
in  democratic  institutions  to  render  the  exertions  of  the  citizens 
subservient  to  the  prosperity  of  the  community,  notwithstand 
ing  their  private  vices  and  mistakes ;   while  in  aristocratic 
institutions  there  is  a  secret  propensity,  which,  notwithstanding 
the  talents  and  the  virtues  of  those  who  conduct  the  govern 
ment,  leads  them  to  contribute  to  the  evils  which  oppress  their 
fellow-creatures.      In  aristocratic  governments  public  men 
may  frequently  do  injuries  which  they  do  not  intend  ;  and  in 
democratic  states  they  produce  advantages  which  they  never 
thought  of. 


PUBLIC    SPIRIT   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

Patriotism  of  Instinct.— Patriotism  of  Reflection. — Their  different 
Characteristics. — Nations  ought  to  strive  to  acquire  the  second  when 
the  first  has  disappeared. — Efforts  of  the  Americans  to  acquire  it. — 
Interest  of  the  Individual  intimately  connected  with  that  of  the 
Country. 

THERE  is  one  sort  of  patriotic  attacnment  which  principally 
arises  from  that  instinctive,  disinterested,  and  undefinable 
feeling  which  connects  the  affections  of  man  with  his  birth 
place.  This  natural  fondness  is  united  to  a  taste  for  ancient 
customs,  and  to  a  reverence  for  ancestral  traditions  of  the 
past ;  those  who  cherish  it  love  their  cQuntry  as  they  love  the 
mansion  of  their  fathers.  They  enjoy  the  tranquillity  which 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  DEMOCRACY.          243 

it  affords  them  ;  they  cling  to  the  peaceful  habits  which  they 
have  contracted  within  its  bosom ;  they  are  attached  to  the 
reminiscences  which  it  awakens,  and  they  are  even  pleased 
by  the  state  of  obedience  in  which  they  are  placed.  This 
patriotism  is  sometimes  stimulated  by  religious  enthusiasm, 
and  then  it  is  capable  of  making  the  most  prodigious  efforts. 
/It  is  in  itself  a  kind  of  religion  ;  it  does  not  reason,  but  it  acts 
Trom  the  impulse  of  faith  and  of  sentiment^>  By  some  nations 
the  monarch  has  been  regarded  as  a  personification  of  the 
country  ;  and  the  fervor  of  patriotism  being  converted  into 
the  fervor  of  loyalty,  they  took  a  sympathetic  pride  in  his 
conquests,  and  gloried  in  his  power.  At  one  time,  under 
the  ancient  monarchy,  the  French  felt  a  sort  of  satisfaction  in 
the  sense  of  their  dependence  upon  the  arbitrary  pleasure  of 
their  king,  and  they  were  wont  to  say  with  pride  :  "  We  arc 
the  subjects  of  the  most  powerful  king  in  the  world." 

But,  ljke  all  instinctive  passions;  this  kind  of  patriotism  js 
more  apt  to  prompt  transient  exertion  than  to  supply  lh< 
motives  of  continuous  endeavor.  TFrnay~save  the  state  in 
critical  circumstances,  but  it  will  not  unfrequently  allow  the 
nation  to  decline  in  the  midst  of  peace.  While  the  manners 
of  a  people  are  simple,  and  its  faith  unshaken,  wh'le  society 
is  steadily  based  upon  traditional  institutions,  whose  legitimacy 
has  never  been  contested,  this  instinctive  patriotism  is  wont  to 
endure. 

But  there  is  Another  species  of  attachment  to  a  country 
which  is  more  rational  than  the  one  we  have  been  describing. 
It  is  perhaps  less  generous  and  less  ardent,  but  it  is  more 
fruitful  and  more  lasting  ;  it  is  coeval  with  the  spread  of 
knowledge,  it  is  nurtured  by  the  laws,  it  grows  by  the  exercise 
of  civil  rights,  and  in  the  end,  it  is  confounded  with  the  per 
sonal  interest  of  the  citizen.  /^  man  comprehends  the  influence 
which  the  prosperity  of  his  country  has  upon  his  own  welfare  ;  ]> 
he  is  aware  that  the  laws  authorize  him  to  contribute  his 
assistance  to  that  prosperity,  and  he  labors  to  promote  it  as  a 
portion  of  his  interest  in  the  first  place,  and  as  a  portion  of  his 
right  in  the  second. 

But  e4iojihsspmetimes  occur,  in  the  course  of  the  existence 
of  a  nation,<5t  which  the  ancient  customs  of  a  people  are 
changed,  public  morality  destroyed,  religious  belief  disturbed, 
and  the  spell  of  tradition  broken,  while  the  diffusion  of  know 
ledge  is  yet  imperfect,  and  the  civil  rights  of  the  community 
are  ill  secured,  or  confined  within  very  narrow  limitsA  The 
country  then  assumes  a  dim  and  dubious  shape  in  the 
eyes  of  the  citizens ;  they  no  longer  behold  it  in  the  soil 


244  ADVANTAGES    DERIVED    FROM    THE 

which  they  inhabit,  for  that  soil  is  to  them  a  dull  inanimate 
clod  ;  nor  in  the  usages  of  their  forefathers,  which  they  have 
been  taught  to  look  upon  as  a  debasing  yoke  ;  nor  in  religion, 
for  of  that  they  doubt  ;  nor  in  the  laws,  which  do  not  originate 
in  their  own  authority  ;  nor  in  the  legislator,  whom  they  fear 
and  despise.  The  country  is  lost  to  their  senses,  they  can 
neither  discover  it  under  its  own,  nor  under  borrowed  features, 
and  they  intrench  themselves  within  the  dull  precincts  of  a 
narrow  egotism.  They  are  emancipated  from  prejudice, 
without  having  acknowledged  the  empire  of  reason  ;  they  are 
animated  neither  by  the  instinctive  patriotism  of  monarchical 
subjects,  nor  by  the  thinking  patriotism  of  republican  citi 
zens  ;  tfmt  they  have  stopped^  half-way  between  the  two,  in 
the  midst  of  confusion  and  of  distress^ 

In  this  predicament,  to  retreat  is  impossible  ;  for  a  people 
cannot  restore  the  vivacity  of  its  earlier  times,  any  more  than 
a  man  can  return  to  the  innocence  and  the  bloom  of  childhood  : 
such  things  may  be  regretted,  but  they  cannot  be  renewed. 
The  only  thing,  then,  which  remains  to  be  done,  is  to  pro 
ceed,  and  to  accelerate  the  union  of  private  with  public  inter 
ests,  since  the  period  of  disinterested  patriotism  is  gone  by  for 
ever. 

I  am  certainly  very  far  from  averring,  that,  in  order  to  ob 
tain  this  result,  the  exercise  of  political  rights  should  be 
immediately  granted  to  all  the  members  of  the  community. 

l 


I  maintain  that  the  most  powerful.  a.pr)  pprhapg  thp  nnly 
means  of  intP.rfigting  rhp.n  in  tTiP.  wplfarp  nf  thpir  rrmniryj 
which  we  still  possess,  is..  to  make  .them  partnkors  in  thp  gov- 
the  present  time  civic  zeal  seems  to  me  to  be 


^ 

inseparable  from  the  exercise  of  political  rights  ;  and  I  hold 
that  the  number  of  citizens  will  be  found  to  augment  or  de 
crease  in  Europe  in  proportion  as  those  rights  are  extended. 

In  the  United-States,  the  inhabitants  were  thrown  but  as 
yesterday  upon  the  soil  which  they  now  occupy,  and  they 
brought  neither  customs  nor  traditions  with  them  there  ;  they 
meet  each  other  for  the  first  time  with  no  previous  acquaint 
ance  ;  in  short,  the  instinctive  love  of  their  country  can 
scarcely  exist  in  their  minds  ;  Aut  every  one  takes  as  zealous 
an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  township,  his  country,  and  of 
the  whole  state,  as  if  they  were  his  own,  because  every  one, 
in  his  sphere,  takes  an  active  part  in,  the  government  of 
societyX  '  ", 

The  lower  orders  in  the  United  State's  are  alive  to  the  per 
ception  of  the  influence  exercised  by  the  general  prosperity 
upon  their  own  welfare  ;  and  simple  as  this  observation  is,  it 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  DEMOCRACY          245 

is  one  which  is  but  too  rarely  made  by  the  people.  But  in 
America  the  people  regard  this  prosperity  as  the  result  of  its 
own  exertions ;  the  citizen  looks  upon  the  fortune  of  the  pub 
lic  as  his  private  interest,  and  he  co-operates  in  its  success, 
not  so  much  from  a  sense  of  pride  or  of  duty,  as  from  what  I 
shall  venture  to  term  cupidity. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  study  the  institutions  and  the  history 
of  the  Americans  in  order  to  discover  the  truth  of  this  remark, 
for  their  manners  render  it  sufficiently  evident.  <^s  the 
American  participates  in  all  that  is  done  in  his  country,  he 
thinks  himself  obliged  to  defend  whatever  may  be  censured  • 
for  it  is  not  only  his  county  which  is  attacked  upon  these 
occasions,  but  it  is  himself./  The  consequence  is  that  his 
national  pride  resorts  to  a  thousand  artifices,  and  to  all  the 
petty  tricks  of  individual  vanity. 

Nothing  is  more  embarrassing  in  the  ordinary  intercourse 
of  life  than  this  irritable  patriotism  of  the  Americans.  A 
stranger  may  be  well  inclined  to  praise  many  of  the  institu 
tions  of  their  country,  but  he  begs  permission  to  blame  some 
of  the  peculiarities  which  he  observes — a  permission  which  is 
however  inexorably  refused.  America  is  therefore  a  free 
country,  in  which,  lest  anybody  should  be  hurt  by  your  re 
marks,  you  are  not  allowed  to  speak  freely  of  private  indi 
viduals  or  of  the  state  ;  of  the  citizens  or  of  the  authorities ; 
of  public  or  of  private  undertakings  ;  or,  in  short,  of  anything 
at  all,  except  it  be  of  the  climate  and  the  soil ;  and  even  then 
Americans  will  be  found  ready  to  defend  either  the  one  or  the 
other,  as  if  they  had  been  contrived  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country. 

In  our  times,  option  must  be  made  between  the  patriotism 
of  all  and  the  government  of  a  few  ;  for  the  force  and  activity 
which  the  first  confers,  are  irreconcilable  with  the  guaran 
tees  of  tranquillity  which  the  second  furnishes. 


NOTION    OF    RIGHTS   IN    THE   UNITED    STATES. 

No  great  People  without  a  Notion  of  Rights.— How  the  Notion  of 
Rights  can  be  given  to  a  People. — Respect  of  Rights  in  the  United 
States. — Whence  it  arises. 

AFTER  the  idea  of  virtue,  I  am  acquainted  with  no  higher 
principle  than  that  of  right ;  or,  to  speak  more  accurately, 
these  two  ideas  are,  commingled  in  one.  The  idea  of  right 
is  simply  that  of  virtue  introduced  into  the  political  world.  It 


246  ADVANTAGES    DERIVED    FROM    THE 

is  the  idea  of  right  which  enabled  men  to  define  anarchy  and 
tyranny ;  and  which  taught  them  to  remain  independent 
without  arrogance,  as  well  as  to  obey  without  servility.  The 
man  who  submits  to  violence  is  debased  by  his  compliance ; 
but  when  he  obeys  the  mandate  of  one  who  possesses  that 
right  of  authority  which  he  acknowledges  in  a  fellow-crea 
ture,  he  rises  in  some  measure  above  the  person  who  delivers 
the  command,  ^here  are  no  great  men  without  virtue,  and 
there  are  no  great  nations — it  may  also  be  added  that  there 
would  be  no  society — without  the  notion  of  rights  ;  for  what 
is  the  condition  of  a  mass  of  rational  and  intelligent  beings 
who  are  only  united  together  by  the  bond  of  force  r\ 

I  am  persuaded  that  the  only  means  which  we  Jwssess  at 
the  present  time  of  inculcating  jjie  not, jon  of  rights  and  of 
rendering  it,  as  it  were,  palpable  to  the  senses,  is  to^pvp.st  all 
the  members  of  the  community  with  the  peaceful  exercise  of 
certain  rights :  this  is  very  clearly  seen  in  children,  who  are 
men  without  the  strength  and  the  experience  of  manhood. 
When  a  child  begins  to  move  in  the  midst  of  the  objects 
which  surround  him,  he  is  instinctively  led  to  turn  everything 
which  he  can  lay  his  hands  upon  to  his  own  purpose ;  he  has 
no  notion  of  the  property  of  others  ;  but  as  he  gradually 
learns  the  value  of  things,  and  begins  to  perceive  that  he  may 
in  his  turn  be  deprived  of  his  possessions,  he  becomes  more 
circumspect,  and  he  observes  those  rights  in  others  which  he 
wishes  to  have  respected  in  himself.  The  principle  which 
the  child  derives  from  the  possession  of  his  toys,  is  taught  to 
the  man  by  the  objects  which  he  may  call  his  own.  In 
America  those  complaints  against  property  in  general,  which 
are  so  frequent  in  Europe,  are  never  heard,  because  ^n  Amer 
ica  there  are  no  paupers ;  and  as  every  one  has  property  of 
his  own  to  defend,  every  one  recognizes  the  principle  upon 
which  he  holds  u*j^  / 

The  same  thing  occurs  in  the  political  worjjd.  An  America 
the  lowest  classes  have  conceived  a  very  high  notion  of  po 
litical  rights,  because  they  exercise  those  rights ;  and  they 
refrain  from  attacking  those  ^of  other  people,  in  order  to  en 
sure  their  own  from  attack^  While  in  Europe  the  same 
classes  sometimes  recalcitrate  even  against  the  supreme  pow 
er,  the  American  submits  without  a  murmur  to  the  authority 
of  the  pettiest  magistrate. 

This  truth  is  exemplified  by  the  most  trivial  details  of  na 
tional  peculiarities.  In  France  very  few  pleasures  are 
exclusively  reserved  for  the  higher  classes  ;  the  poor  are 
admitted  wherever  the  rich  are  received;  and  they  con- 


GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    DEMOCRACY.  247 

sequently  behave  with  propriety,  and  respect  whatever  con 
tributes  to  the  enjoyments  in  which  they  themselves  partici 
pate.  In  England,  where  wealth  has  a  monopoly  of  amuse 
ment  as  well  as  of  power,  complaints  are  made  that  whenever 
the  poor  happen  to  steal  into  the  enclosures  which  are  re 
served  for  the  pleasures  of  the  rich,  they  commit  acts  of 
wanton  mischief:  can  this  be  wondered  at,  since  care  has 
be/n  taken  that  they  should  have  nothing  to  lose  ? 
/  The  government  of  the  democracy  brings  the  notion  of 
political  rights  to  the  level  of  the  humblest  citizens,  just  as 
the  dissemination  of  wealth  brings  the  notion  of  property 
within  the  reach  of  all  the  members  of  the  community  ;  and 
I  confess  that,  to  my  mind,  this  is  one  of  its  greatest  advan 
tages.),  I  do  not  assert  that  it  is  easy  to  teach  men  to  exercise 
political  rights ;  but  I  maintain  that  when  it  is  possible,  the 
effects  which  result  from  it  are  highly  important :  and  I  add 
that  if  there  ever  was  a  time  at  which  such  an  attempt  ought 
to  be  made,  that  time  is  our  own.  It  is  clear  that  the  influ 
ence  of  religious  belief  is  shaken,  and  that  the  notion  of  di 
vine  rights  is  declining ;  it  is  evident  that  public  morality  is 
vitiated,  and  the  notion  of  moral  rights  is  also  disappearing : 
these  are  general  symptoms  of  th.e  substitution  of  argument  for 
faith,  and  of  calculation  for  the  impulses  of^entiment.  If,  in 
the  midst  of  this  general  disruption,  you  do  not  succeed  in 
connecting  the  notion  of  rights  with  that  of  personal  interest, 
which  is  the  only  immutable  point  in  the  human  heart, 
what  means  will  you  have  of  governing  the  world  except  by 
fear  ?  When  I  am  told  that  since  the  laws  are  weak  and 
the  populace  is  wild,  since  passions  are  excited  and  the  au 
thority  of  virtue  is  paralyzed,  no  measures  must  be  taken  to 
increase  the  rights  of  the  democracy  ;  I  reply  that  it  is  for 
these  very  reasons  that  some  measures  of  the  kind  must  be 
taken  ;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  governments  are  still  more 
interested  in  taking  them  than  society  at  large,  because  gov 
ernments  are  liable  to  be  destroyed,  and  society  cannot 
perish. 

I  am  not,  however,  inclined  to  exaggerate  the  example 
which  America  furnishes.  In  those  states  the  people  was 
invested  with  political  rights  at  a  time  when  they  could 
scarcely  be  abused,  for  the  citizens  were  few  in  number 
and  simple  in  their  manners.  As  they  have  increased,  the 
Americans  have  not  augmented  the  power  of  the  democracy, 
but  they  have,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  extended  its  domi 
nions. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  moment  at   which  political 


248  ADVANTAGES    DERIVED    FROM    THE 

rights  are  granted  to  a  people  that  had  before  been  without 
them,  is  a  very  critical,  though  it  be  a  very  necessary  one. 
A  child  may  kill  before  he  is  aware  of  the  value  of  life  ;  and 
he  may  deprive  another  person  of  his  property  before  he  is 
aware  that  his  own  may  be  taken  away  from  him.  The 
lower  orders,  when  first  they  are  invested  with  political  rights, 
stand  in  relation  to  those  rights,  in  the  same  position  as  a  child 
does  to  the  whole  of  nature,  and  the  celebrated  adage  may  then 
be  applied  to  them,  Homo,  puer  rolustus.  This  truth  may 
even  be  perceived  in  America.  The  states  in  which  the 
citizens  Have  enjoyed  their  rights  longest  are  those  in  which 
they  make  the  best  use  of  them. 

It  cannot  be  repeated  too  often  that  nothing  is  more  fertile 
in  prodigies  than  the  art  of  being  free  ;  but  there  is  nothing 
more  arduous  than  the  apprenticeship  of  liberty.  Such  is 
not  the  case  with  despotic  institutions ;  despotism  often  pro- 
mises  to  make  amends  for  a  thousand  previous  ills  ;  it  supports 
the  right,  it  protects  the  oppressed,  and  it  maintains  public 
order.  The  nation  is  lulled  by  the  temporary  prosperity  which 
accrues  to  it,  until  it  is  roused  to  a  sense  of  its  own  misery. 
<1Liberty,  on  the  contrary,  is  generally  established  in  the  midst 
of  agitation,  it  is  perfected  by  civil  discorcL  and  its  benefits 
cannot  be  appreciated  until  it  is  already  olq^ 


I  RESPECT   FOR   THE    LAW    IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.^ 

Respect  of  the  Americans  for  the  Law. — Parental  Affection  which  they 
entertain  for  it. — Personal  Interest  of  every  one  to  increase  the 
Authority  of  the  Law. 

IT  is  not  always  feasible  to  consult  the  whole  people,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  formation  of  the  law ;  but  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  when  such  a  measure  is  possible,  the 
authority  of  the  law  is  very  much  augmented.  ^This  popular 
origin,  which  impairs  the  excellence  and  the  wisdom  qf 
legislation,  contributes  prodigiously  to  increase  its  power\ 
There  is  an  amazing  strength  in  the  expression  of  the  deter 
mination  of  a  whole  people ;  and  when  it  declares  itself,  the 
imagination  of  those  who  are  most  inclined  to  contest  it,  is 
overawed  by  its  authority.  The  truth  of  this  fact  is  very 
well  known  by  parties ;  and  they  consequently  strive  to 
make  out  a  majority  whenever  they  can.  If  they  have  not 
the  greater  number  of  voters  on  their  side,  they  assert  that 
the  true  majority  abstained  from  voting ;  and  if  they  are 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  DEMOCRACY.          249 

foiled  even  there,  they  have  recourse  to  the  body  of  those 
persons  who  had  no  votes  to  give. 

In  the  United  States,  except  slaves,  servants,  and  paupers 
in  the  receipt  of  relief  from  the  townships,  there  is  no  class 
of  persons  who  do  not  exercise  the  elective  franchise,  and  who 
do  not  contribute  indirectly  to  make  the  laws.  ^/Those  who 
design  to  attack  the  laws  must  consequently  eithor  modify  the 
opinion  of  the  nation  or  trample  upon  its  decisionx* 

A  second  reason,  which  is  still  more  weighty,  may  be 
farther  adduced  :  in  the  United  States  every  one  is  personally 
interested  in  enforcing  the  obedience  of  the  whole  community 
to  the  law  ;  for  as  the  minority  may  shortly  rally  the  majority 
to  its  principles,<5  is  interested  in  professing  that  respect  for 
the  decrees  of  the  legislator,  which  it  may  soon  have  occasion 
to  claim  for  its  OWIK>  However  irksome  an  enactment,  may 
be,  the  citizen  of  the  United  States  complies  with  it,  not  only 
because  it  is i  the  work  of  the  "majority, but because  it  originates 
in  hisj^yn  authority  •  and  he  regards  it  as  a  contract  to 
whicKTie  is  himself  a  party. 

/-   In  the  United  States,  then,  that  numerous  and  turbulent 
/  multitude  does  not  exist,  which  always  looks  upon  the  law  as 
\  its  natural  enemy,  and  accordingly  surveys  it  with  fear  and 
/  with  distrust.     It  is  impossible,  on  the  other  hand,  not  to  per 
ceive  that  all  classes  display  the  utmost  reliance  upon  the 
legislation  of  their  country,  and  that  they  are  attached  to  it 
by  a  kind  of  parental  affection. 

I  am  wrong,  however,  in  saying  all  classes;  for  as  in 
America  the  European  scale  of  authority  is  inverted,  the 
wealthy  are  there  placed  in  a  position  analogous  to  that  of 
the  poor  in  the  Old  World,  and  it  is  the  opulent  classes  which 
frequently  look  upon  the  law  with  suspicion.  I  have  already 
observed  that  the  advantage  of  democracy  is  not,  as  has  been 
sometimes  asserted,  that  it  protects  the  interests  of  the  whole 
community,  but  simply  that  it  protects  those  of  the  majority. 
\ln  the  United  States,  where  the  poor  rule,  the  rich  have 
always  some  reason  to  dread  the  abuses  of  their  power^  This 
natural  anxiety  of  the  rich  may  produce  a  sullen  dissatisfac 
tion,  but  society  is  not  disturbed  by  it ;  for  the  same  reason 

Which  induces    the    rich  to   withhold    thpfr    nnnfifWinP   in    flip 

legislative  authority,  makes  them  obey  its  mandates  ;  their 
wealth,  which  prevents  them  from  making  the  law,  prevents 
them  from  withstanding  it.  Among  civilized  nations  revolts 
are  rarely  excited  except  by  such  persons  as  have  nothing  to 
lose  by  them  ;  and  if  the  laws  of  a  democracy  are  not  always 
worthy  of  respect,  at  least  they  always  obtain  it ;  for  those 


250          ADVANTAGES  DERIVED  FROM  THE 

who  usually  infringe  the  laws  have  no  excuse  for  not  com 
plying  with  the  enactments  they  have  themselves  made,  and 
by  which  they  are  themselves  benefited,  while  the  citizens 
whose  interests  might  be  promoted  by  the  infraction  of  them, 
are  induced,  by  their  character  and  their  station,  to  submit 
to  the  decisions  of  the  legislature,  whatever  they  may  be. 
Beside  which,  the  people  in/America  obeys  the  law  not  only 
because  it  emanates  from  trie  popular  authority,  but  because 
that  authority  may  modify  it  in  any  points  which  may  prove 
vexatorV>;  a  law  is  observed  -because  it  is  a  self-impnsftd  evil 
in  the  iifst  place,  and  an  evil  of  transient  duration  in  the 
second. 


ACTIVITY  WHICH  PERVADES  ALL  THE  BRANCHES  OF  THE  BODY 
POLITIC  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  J  INFLUENCE  WHICH  IT  EX 
ERCISES  UPON  SOCIETY. 

More  difficult  to  conceive  the  political  Activity  which  pervades  the 
United  States  than  the  Freedom  and  Equality  which  reign  here.  — 
The  great  activity  which  perpetually  agitates  the  legislative  Bodies 
is  only  an  Episode  to  the  general  Activity. — Difficult  for  an  Ameri 
can  to  confine  himself  to  his  own  Business. — Political  Agitation 
extends  to  all  social  intercourse. — Commercial  Activity  of  the  Ame 
ricans  partly  attributable  to  this  cause  — Indirect  Advantages  which 
Society  derives  from  a  democratic  Government 

ON  passing  from  a  country  in  wjiich  free  institutions  are 
established  to  one  where  they  do  not  exist,  the  traveller  is 
struck  by  the  change  ;  in  the  former  all  is  bustle  and  activity, 
in  the  latter  everything  is  calm  and  motionless.  In  the  one, 
melioration  and  progress  are  the  general  topics  of  inquiry  ;  in 
the  other,  it  seems  as  if  the  community  only  aspired  to  repose 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  which  it  has  acquired. 
Nevertheless,  the  country  which  exerts  itself  so  strenuously 
to  promote  its  welfare  is  generally  more  wealthy  and  more 
prosperous  than  that  which  appears  to  be  so  contented  with 
its  lot ;  and  when  we  compare  them  together,  we  can  scarcely 
conceive  how  so  many  new  wants  are  daily  felt  in  the  former, 
while  so  few  seem  to  occur  in  the  latter. 

If  this  remark  is  applicable  to  those  free  countries  in  which 
monarchical  and  aristocratic  institutions  subsist,  it  is  still 
more  striking  with  regard  to  democratic,  republics.  In  these 
states  it  is  not  only  a  portion  of  the  people  which  is  busied 
with  the  melioration  of  its  social  condition"  but  the  whole 


GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    DEMOCRACY.  251 

community  is  engaged  in  the  task  ;  and  it  is  not  the  exigen 
cies  and  the  convenience  of  a  single  class  for  which  a  pro 
vision  is  to  be  made,  but  the  exigencies  and  the  convenience 
of  all  ranks  of  life. 

It  is  not  impossible  to  conceive  the  surpassing  liberty  which 
the  Americans  enjoy ;  some  idea  may  likewise  be  formed  of 
the  extreme  equality  which  subsists  among  them  ;  but  the 
^&litical  activity  which  pervades  the  United  States  must  be 
seen  in  order  to  be  understooct^  No  sooner  do  you  set  foot 
upon  the  American  soil  than  you  are  stunned  by  a  kind  of 
tumult ;  a  confused  clamor  is  heard  on  every  side  ;  and  a 
thousand  simultaneous  voices  demand  the  immediate  satisfac 
tion  of  their  social  wants.  Everything  is  in  motion  around 
you  ;  here,  the  people  of  one  quarter  of  a  town  are  met  to 
decide  upon  the  building  of  a  church  ;  there,  the  election  of 
a  representative  is  going  on  ;  a  little  further,  the  delegates  of 
a  district  are  posting  to  the  town  in  order  to  consult  upon  some 
local  improvements ;  or,  in  another  place,  the  laborers  of  a 
village  quit  their  ploughs  to  deliberate  upon  the  project  of  a 
road  or  a  public  school.  Meetings  are  called  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  declaring  their  disapprobation  of  the  line  of  con 
duct  pursued  by  the  government ;  while  in  other  assemblies 
the  citizens  salute  the  authorities  of  the  day  as  the  fathers 
of  their  country.  Societies  are  formed,  which  regard  drunk 
enness  as  the  principal  cause  of  the  evils  under  which  the 
state  labors,  and  which  solemnly  bind  themselves  to  give  a 
constant  example  of  temperance.* 

The  great  political  agitation  of  the  American  legislative 
bodies,  which  is  the  only  kind  of  excitement  that  attracts  the 
attention  of  foreign  countries,  is  a  mere  episode  or  a  sort  of 
continuation  of  that  universal  movement  which  originates  in 
the  lowest  classes  of  the  people  and  extends  successively  to 
all  the  ranks  of  society.  It  is  impossible  t.n  sppnd  rpr>^ 
efforts  in  the  pursuit  of  enjoyment. 

<The  cares  of  political  life  engross  a  most  prominent  place 
in  the  occupation  of  a  citizen  in  the  United  States;  and 
almost  the  only  pleasure  of  which  an  American  has  any  idea, 
is  to  take  a  part  in  the  government,  and  to  discuss  the  part 
he  has  takenj>  This  feeling  pervades  the  most  trifling  habits 
of  life  ;  even  the  women  frequently  attend  public  meetings, 
and  listen  to  political  harangues  as  a  recreation  after  their 

*  At  the  time  of  my  stay  in  the  United  States  the  temperance  soci 
eties  already  consisted  of  more  than  270,000  members;  and  their  effect 
had  been  to  diminish  the  consumption  of  fermented  liquors  by  500,000 
gallons  per  annum  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  alone. 


252          ADVANTAGES  DERIVED  FROM  THE 

household  labors.  Debating  clubs  are  to  a  certain  extent 
a  substitute  for  theatrical  entertainments  :  .an  American  can 
not  converse,  but  he  can  discuss  ;  and  when  he  attempts  to 
talk  he  falls  into  a  dissertation.  He  speaks  to  you  as  if  he 
were  addressing  a  meeting ;  and  if  he  should  warm  in  the 
course  of  the  discussion,  he  will  infallibly  say  "  gentlemen,'3 
to  the  person  with  whom  he  is  conversing. 

I  In  some  countries  the  inhabitants  display  a  certain  repug 
nance  to  avail  themselves  of  the  political  privileges  with 
which  the  law  invests  them  ;  it  would  seem  that  they  set  too 
high  a  value  upon  their  time  to  spend  it  on  the  interests  of 
the  community  ;  and  they  prefer  to  withdraw  within  the 
exact  limits  of  a  wholesome  egotism,  marked  out  by  four  sunk 
fences  and  a  quickset  hedge.  But  if  an  American  were  con 
demned  to  confine  his  activity  to  his  own  affairs,  he  would  be 
robbed  of  one  half  of  his  existence^,  he  would  feel  an  immense 
void  in  the  life  which  he  is  accustomed  to  lead,  and  his 
wretchedness  would  be  unbearable.*  I  am  persuaded  that 
^f  ever  a  despotic  government  is  established  in  America,  it 
will  find  it  more  difficult  to  surmount  the  habits  which  free 
institutions  have  engendered,  than  to  conquer  the  attachment 
of  the  citizens  to  freedom^ 

This  ceaseless  agitation  which  democratic  government  has 
"^introduced  into  the  political  world,  influences  all  social  inter- 
i  course.  I  am  not  sure  that  upon  the  whole  this  is  not  the 
ffreatgsf^  advajrtagft  of  democracy  ;  and  I  am  much  less  in 
clined  to  applaud  it  for  what  it  does,  than  for  what  it  causes 
to  be  done. 

It  is  incontestable  that  the  people  frequently  conducts  pub 
lic  business  very  ill ;  but  it  is  impossible  that  the  lower  orders 
should  take  a  part  in  public  business  without  extending  the 
circle  of  their  ideas,  and  without  quitting  the  ordinary  routine 
of  their  mental  acquirements.  The  humblest  individual  who 
is  called  upon  to  co-operate  in  the  government  of  society, 
acquires  a  certain  degree  of  self-respect ;  and  as  he  possesses 
authority,  he  can  command  the  services  of  minds  much  more 
enlightened  than  his  own.  He  is  canvassed  by  a  multitude 
of  applicants,  who  seek  to  deceive  him  in  a  thousand  different 
ways,  but  who  instruct  him  by  their  deceit.  He  takes  a  part 
in  political  undertakings  which  did  not  originate  in  his  own 
conception,  but  which  give  him  a  taste  for  undertakings  of 

*  The  same  remark  was  made  at  Rome  under  the  first  Cesars.  Mon 
tesquieu  somewhere  alludes  to  the  excessive  despondency  of  certain 
Roman  citizens  who,  after  the  excitement  of  political  life,  were  all  at 
once  flung  back  into  the  stagnation  of  private  life. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  DEMOCRACY.          253 

the  kind.  New  meliorations  ar«  daily  pointed  out  in  the 
property  which  he  holds  in  common  with  others,  and  this  gives 
him  the  desire  of  improving  that  property  which  is  more  pe 
culiarly  his  own.  He  is  perhaps  neither  happier  nor  better 
than  those  who  came-  before  him,  but  he  is  better  informed 
and  more  active.  \I  have  no  doubt  that  the  democratic  insti 
tutions  of  the  United  States,  joined  to  the  physical  constitution 
of  the  country,  are  the  cause  (not  the  direct,  as  is  so  often 
asserted,  but  the  indirect  cause)  of  the  prodigious  commer 
cial  activity  of  the  inhabitants^  It  is  not  engendered  by  the 
laws,  but  the  people  learns  how  to  promote  it  by  the  experi 
ence  derived  from  legislation. 

When  the  opponents  of  democracy  assert  that  a  single 
individual  performs  the  duties  which  he  undertakes  much 
better  than  the  government  of  the  community,  it  appears  to 
me  that  they  are  perfectly  right.  The  government  of  an  in 
dividual,  supposing  an  equality  of  instruction  on  either  side, 
is  more  consistent,  more  persevering,  and  more  accurate  than 
that  of  a  multitude,  and  it  is  much  better  qualified  judiciously 
to  discriminate  the  characters  of  the  men  it  employs.  If  any 
deny  what  I  advance,  they  have  certainly  never  seen  a  demo 
cratic  government,  or  have  formed  their  opinion  upon  very 
partial  evidence.  It  is  true  that  even  when  local  circum 
stances  and  the  disposition  of  the  people  allow  democratic  in 
stitutions  to  subsist,  they  never  display  a  regular  and  method 
ical  system  of  government.  Democratic  liberty  is  far  from 
accomplishing  all  the  projects  it  undertakes,  with  the  skill  of 
an  adroit  despotism.  It  frequently  abandons  them  before  they 
have  borne  their  fruits,  or  risks  them  when  the  consequences 
may  prove  dangerous  ;^ut  in  the  end  it  produces  more  than 
any  absolute  government,  and  if  it  do  fewer  things  well,  it 
does  a  great  number  of  thingsX,  Under  its  sway,  the  transac 
tions  of  the  public  administration  are  not  n^rly  sn  important 
Q.S  what  is  done  by  private  exertion.  Democracy  does  not 
confer  the  most  sEmul  kind  ofgovernment  upon  the  people, 
but  it  produces  that  which  the  most  skilful  governments  are 
frequently  unable  to^ivakerf,  namely,<^in  all-pervading  and 
restless  activity,  a  superabundant  force,  and  an  energy  which 
is  inseparable  from  it,  and  which  may,  under  favorable  cir 
cumstances,  beget  the  most  amazing  benefits.  xThese  are  the 
true  advantages  of  democracy. 

In  the  present  age,  when  the  destinies  of  Christendom  seem 
to  be  in  suspense,  some  hasten  to  assail  democracy  as  its  foe 
while  it  is  yet  in  its  early  growth ;  and  others  are  ready  with 
their  vows  of  adoration  for  this  new  duty  which  is  springing 


254          ADVANTAGES    DERIVED    FROM    THE    DEMOCRACY. 

forth  from  chaos  :  but  both  parties  are  very  imperfectly  ac 
quainted  with  the  object  of  their  hatred  or  of  their  desires  ; 
they  strike  in  the  dark,  and  distribute  their  blows  by  mere 
chance. 

We  must  first  understand  what  the  purport  of  society  and 
the  aim  of  government  are  held  to  be.  If  it  be  your  inten 
tion  to  confer  a  certain  elevation  upon  the  human  mind,  and 
to  teach  it  to  regard  the  things  of  this  world  with  generous 
feelings  ;  to  inspire  men  with  a  scorn  of  mere  temporal  ad 
vantage  ;  to  give  birth  to  living  convictions,  and  to  keep  alive 
the  spirif  of  honorable  devotedness  ;  if  you  hold  it  to  be  a 
good  thing  to  refine  the  habits,  to  embellish  the  manners,  to 
cultivate  the  arts  of  a  nation,,  and  to  promote  the  love  of 
poetry,  of  beauty,  and  of  renown ;  if  you  would  constitute  a 
people  not  unfitted  to  act  with  power  upon  all  other  nations ; 
nor  unprepared  for  those  high  enterprises,  which,  whatever 
be  the  result  of  its  efforts,  will  leave  a  name  for  ever  famoua 
in  time — if  you  believe  such  to  be  the  principal  object  of  so 
ciety,  you  must  avoid  the  government  of  democracy,  which 
would  be  a  very  uncertain  guide  to  the  end  you  have  in 
view. 

ButJ£you  hold  it  to  be  expedient  to  divert  the  moral  and 
intellectual  activity  of  man  to  the  production  of  comfort.  ;m<l 
to  the  acquirement  of  the  necessaries  of  lite  ;  ii'  a  clear  un 
derstanding  be  more  profitable  to  men  than  genius  ;  if  your 
object  be  not  to  stimulate  the  virtues  of  heroism,  but  to  create 
habits  of  peace  ;  if  you  had  rather  behold  vices  than  crimes, 
and  are  content  to  meet  with  fewer  noble  deeds,  provided 
offences  be  diminished  in  the  same  proportion  ;  if,  instead  of 
living  in  the  midst  of  a  brilliant  state  of  society,  you  are  con 
tented  to  have  prosperity  around  you  ;  j£  in  short,  you  are  of 
opinion  that  the  principal  object  of  a  government  is  not  to 
confer  the  greatest  possible  share  of  power  and  of  glory  upmi 
the  body  of  the  nation,  hut  to  ensure  the  greatest  degree  of 
enjoyment,  and  the  least  decree  of  miserv.  to  each  of  the  in- 
dividufljs  who  qomposgi  j| — if  such  be  your  desires,  you  can 
have  no  surer  means  of  satisfying  them  than  by  equali/.in^ 
the  condition  of  men,  and  establishing  democratic  institutions. 

But  if  the  time  he  past  at  which  such  a  choice  was  possi 
ble,  and  if  some  superhuman  power  impel  us  toward  one  or 
the  other  of  these  two  governments  without  consulting  our 
wishes,  let  us  at  least  endeavor  to  make  the  best  of  that  which 
is  allotted  to  us  :  and  let  us  so  inquire  into  its  good  and  its 
evil  propensities  as  to  be  able  to  foster  the  former,  and  re-  • 
press  the  latter  to  the  utmost. 


POWER  OF  THE  MAJORITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.          255 


CHAPTER  XV. 

UNLIMITED    POWER    OF    THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE   UNITED    STATES 
AND    ITS    CONSEQUENCES. 

Natural  Strength  of  the  Majority  in  Democracies. — Most  of  the  Ame 
rican  Constitutions  have  increased  this  Strength  by  artificial  Means. 
— How  this  has  been  done. — Pledged  Delegates. — Moral  Power  of 
the  Majority. — Opinions  as  to  its  Infallibility. — Respect  for  its  Rights, 
how  augmented  in  the  United  States. 

/THE  very  essence  of  democratic  government  consists  in  the 
absolute  sovereignty  of  the  majority  :  for  there  is  nothing  in 
democratic  states  which  is  capable  of  resisting  it/>  Most  of 
the  American  constitutions  have  sought  to  increase  this  na 
tural  strength  of  the  majority  by  artificial  means.* 

The  legislature  is,  of  all  political  institutions^  the  one  which 
is^  most  easily ~s way ed  by  the  wyies_oj  the  majority.  The 
Americans  determined  that  the  members  of  the  legislature 
should  be  elected  by  the  people  immediately,  and  for  a  very 
brief  term,  in  order  to  subject  them  not  only  to  the  general 
coavjctionsj  but  even  to  the  daily  passions  of  their  constitu- 

-  e.nts.  The  members  of  both  houses  are  taken  from  the  same 
class  in  society,  and  are  nominated  in  the  same  manner  ;  so 
that  the  modifications  of  the  legislative  bodies  are  almost  as 
rapid  and  quite  as  irresistible  as  those  of  a  single  assembly. 
It  is  to  a  legislature  thus  constituted,  that  almost  all  the  au 
thority  of  the  government  has  been  intrusted. 

Rut  vh'>  t*'Q  ]aw  jpnronspd  the  strength  nf  those  authori- 

|ties_wiikiLjQLihemselves  were  strong,  it  enfeebled  more  and 

\  more  those  which  were  naturally: "weak.  It  deprived  the  re 
presentatives  of  the  executive  of  all  stability  and  independ 
ence  ;  and  by  subjecting  them  completely  to  the  caprices  of 
the  legislature,  it  robbed  them  completely  of  the  slender  in 
fluence  which  the  nature  of  a  democratic  government  might 
have  allowed  them  to  retain.  In  several  states  the  judicial 
power  was  also  submitted  to  the  elective  discretion  of  the  ma- 


*  "We  observed  in  examining  the  federal  constitution  that  the  efforts 
of  the  legislators  of  the  Union  had  been  diametrically  opposed  to  the 
present  tendency.  The  consequence  has  been  that  the  federal  govern 
ment  is  more  independent  in  its  sphere  than  that  of  the  states.  But 
the  federal  government  scarcely  ever  interferes  in  any  but  external 
affairs  ;  and  the  governments  of  the  states  are  in  reality  the  authorities 
which  direct  society  in  America. 


256       CONSEQUENCES  OF  UNLIMITED  POWER  OF 

jority ;  and  in  all  of  them  its  existence  was  made  to  depend 
on  the  pleasure  of  the  legislative  authority,  since  the  repre 
sentatives  were  empowered  annually  to  regulate  the  stipend 
of  the  judges. 

Custom,  however,  has  done  even  more  than  law.  A  pro 
ceeding  which  will  in  the  end  set  all  the  guarantees  of  re 
presentative  government  at  naught,  is  becoming  more  and 
more  general  in  the  United  States  :  it  frequently  happens  that 
the  electors,  who  choose  a  delegate,  point  out  a  certain  line 
of  conduct  to  him,  and  impose  upon  him  a  certain  number  of 
positive  obligations  which  he  is  pledged  to  fulfil.  <With  the 
exception  of  the  tumult,  this  comes  to  the  same  thing  as  if 
the  majority  of  the  populace  held  its  deliberations  in  the  mar 
ket-place.  J^ 

Several  other  circumstances  concur  in  rendering  the  power 
of  the  majority  in  America,  not  only  preponderant,  but  irre 
sistible.  The  mora.1  authority  of  the  majority  is  partly  based 
upojLthejioJiOT^J^tJhere  is  more  intelligence  ,and  moxe  wis 
dom  in  a  great  number  of  jmen  collected  together  than  in  a 
single  individualj-anri  thnMTTe~7j['UH.|jliLy  uf^lggi^tttoTs^Tff  rnnraT~ 
important  than  t]ieir__qu.ality.  The  theory  of  equality  is  in 
fact  applied  to  the  intellect  of  man  ;  and  human  pride  is  thus 
assailed  in  its  last  retreat,  by  a  doctrine  which  the  minority 
hesitate  to  admit,  and  in  which  they  very  slowly  concur. 
Like  all  other  powers,  and  perhaps  more  than  all  other  pow 
ers,  the  authority  of  the  many  requires  the  sanction  of  time ; 
at  first  it  enforces  obedience  by  constraint ;  but  ils  laws  are 
not  respected  until  they  have  long  been  maintainedSy 

The  right  of  governing  society,  which  the  majority  sup 
poses  itself  to  derive  from  its  superior  intelligence,  was  intro 
duced  into  the  United  States  by  the  first  settlers ;  and  this 
idea,  which  would  be  sufficient  of  itself  to  create  a  free  na 
tion,  has  now  been  amalgamated  with  the  manners  of  the 
people,  and  the  minor  incidents  of  social  intercourse. 

The  French,  under  the  old  monarchy,  held  it  for  a  maxim 
(which  is  still  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  English  consti 
tution),  that  the  king  could  do  jio__wroiigp:  and  if  he  did 
wrong,  the  blame  was  imputed  to  his  advisers.  This  notion 
was  highly  favorable  to  habits  of  obedience  ;  and  it  enabled 
the  subject  to  complain  of  the  law,  without  ceasing  to  love 
and  honor  the  lawgiver.  <The  Americans  entertain  the  same 
opinion  with  respect  to  the^majoritW 

"""The  moral  power  of  the  majority  is  founded  upon  yet 
another  principle,  which  is,  that  the  interests  of  the  many 
are  to  bo  preferred  to  those  yf  the  few.  It  will  readily  be 


THE   MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  257 

perceived  that  the  respect  here  professed  for  the  rights  of  the 
majority  must  naturally  increase  or  diminish  according  to 
the  state  of  parties.  When  a  nation  is  divided  into  several 
irreconcilable  factions,  the  privilege  of  the  majority  is  often 
overlooked,  because  it  is  intolerable  to  comply  with  its  demands 
If  there  existed  in  America  a  class  of  citizens  whom  the 
legislating  majority  sought  to  deprive  of  exclusive  privileges, 
which  they  had  possessed  for  ages,  and  to  bring  down  from 
an  elevated  station  to  the  level  of  the  ranks  of  the  multitude, 
it  is  probable  that  the  minority  would T  be  less  ready  to  comply 
with  its  laws.  But  as  the  United  States  were  colonized  by 
men  holding  an  equal  rank  among  themselves,  there  is  as 
yet  no  natural  or  permanent  source  of  dissension  between 
the  interests  of  its  different  inhabitants. 

There  are  certain  communities  in  which  the  persons  who 
constitute  the  minority  can  never  hope  to  draw  over  the  ma 
jority  to  their  side,  because  they  must  then  give  up  the  very 
r  point  which  is  at  issue  between  them.     Thus,  an  aristocracy 
j   can  never  become  a  majority  while  it  retains   its  exclusive 
privileges,  and  it  cannot  cede  its  privileges  without  ceasing 
^to  be  an  aristocracy. 

In  the  United  States,  political  questions  cannot  be  taken  up 
in  so  general  and  absolute  a  manner  ;  and  all  parties  are 
willing  to  recognize  the  rights  of  the  majority,  because  they 
all  hope  to  turn  those  rights  to  their  own  advantage  at  some 
future  time.  The  majority  therefore  in  that  country  exer 
cises  a  prodigious  actual  authority,  and  a  moral  influence 
which  is  scarcely  less  preponderant ;  no  obstacles  exist  which 
can  impede,  or  so  much  as  retard  its  progress,  or  which  can 
induce  it  to  heed  the  complaints  of  those  whom  it  crushes 
upon  its  path.  This  state  of  things  is  fatal  in  itself  and  dan 
gerous  for  the  future. 


HOW  THE  UNLIMITED  POWER  OF  THE  MAJORITY  INCREASES,  IN 
AMERICA,  THE  INSTABILITY  OF  LEGISLATION  AND  THE  AD 
MINISTRATION  INHERENT  IN  DEMOCRACY. 

The  Americans  increase  the  mutability  of  the  Laws  which  is  inherent 
in  Democracy  by  changing  the  Legislature  every  Year,  and  by  vest 
ing  it  with  unbounded  Authority. — The  same  Effect  is  produced 
upon  the  Administration. — In  America  social  Melioration  is  con 
ducted  more  energetically,  but  less  perseveringly  than  in  Europe. 

I  HAVE  already  spoken  of  the  natural  defects  of  democratic 
institutions,    and  they    all   of   them  increase   in    the    exact 
17 


258       CONSEQUENCES  OF  UNLIMITED  POWER  OF 

ratio  of  the  power  of  the  majority.     To  begin  with  the  most 
I  evident  of  them  all ;  the  mutability  of  the  laws  is  an  evil 
!'  inherent  in  democratic  government,  because  it  is  natural  to 
1  democracies  to  raise  men  to  power  in  very  rapid  succession. 
But  this  evil  is  more  or  less  sensible  in  proportion  to  the 
authority  and  the  means  of  action  which  the  legislature  pos 
sesses. 

In  America  the  authority  exercised  by  the  legislative  bodies 
is  supreme  ;  nothing  prevents  them  from  accomplishing  their 
wishes  with  celerity,  and  with  irresistible  power,  while  they 
are  supplfed  by  new  representatives  every  year.  That  is  to 
say,  the  circumstances  which  contribute  most  powerfully  to 
democratic  instability,  and  which  admit  of  the  free  applica 
tion  of  caprice  to  every  object  in  the  state,  are  here  in  full 
operation.  In  conformity  with  this  principle,^America  is,  at 
the  present  day,  the  country  in  the  world  where  laws  last  the 
shortest  time^>  Almost  all  the  American  constitutions  have 
been  amended  within  the  course  of  thirty  years :  there  is, 
therefore,  not  a  single  American  state  which  has  not  modified 
the  principles  of  its  legislation  in  that  lapse  of  time.  As  for 
the  laws  themselves,  a  single  glance  upon  the  archives  of 
the  different  states  of  the  Union  suffices  to  convince  one,  that 
in  America  the  activity  of  the  legislator  never  slackens. 
Not  that  the  American  democracy  is  naturally  less  stable 
than  any  other,  but  that  it  is  allowed  to  follow  its  capricious 
propensities  in  the  formation  of  the  laws.* 

The  omnipotence  of  the  majority  and  the  rapid  as  well  as 
absolute  manner  in  which  its  decisions  are  executed  in  the 
United  States,  have  not  only  the  effect  of  rendering  the  law 
unstable,  but  they  exercise  the  same  influence  upon  the  exe 
cution  of  the  law  and  the  conduct  of  the  public  administra 
tion.  As  the  majority  is  the  only  power  which  it  is  import 
ant  to  court,  all  its  projects  are  taken  up  with  the  greatest 
ardor ;  but  no  sooner  is  its  attention  distracted,  than  all  this 
ardor  ceases  ;  while  in  the  free  states  of  Europe,  the  admin 
istration  is  at  once  independent  and  secure,  so  that  the  pro- 

*  The  legislative  acts  promulgated  by  the  state  of  Massachusetts 
alone,  from  the  year  1780  to  the  present  time,  already  fill  three  stout 
volumes  :  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  collection  to  which  I 
allude  was  published  in  1823,  when  many  old  laws  which  had  fallen 
into  disuse  were  omitted.  The  state  of  Massachusetts,  which  is  not 
more  populous  than  a  department  of  France,  may  be  considered  as  the 
most  stable,  the  most  consistent,  and  the  most  sagacious  in  its  under 
takings  of  the  whole  Union. 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  259 

jects  of  the  legislature  are  put  into  execution,  although  its 
immediate  attention  may  be  directed  to  other  objects. 

In  America  certain  meliorations  are  undertaken  with  much 
more  zeal  and  activity  than  elsewhere ;  in  Europe  the  same 
ends  are  promoted  by  much  less  social  effort,  more  continuous- 
\ly  applied. 

Some  years  ago  several  pious  individuals  undertook  to  me 
liorate  the  condition  of  the  prisons.  The  public  was  excited 
by  the  statements  which  they  put  forward,  and  the  regenera 
tion  of  criminals  became  a  very  popular  undertaking.  New 
prisons  were  built ;  and,  for  the  first  time,  the  idea  of  reform 
ing  as  well  as  of  punishing  the  delinquent,  formed  a  part  of 
prison  discipline.  But  this  happy  alteration,  in  which  the 
public  had  taken  so  hearty  an  interest,  and  which  the  exer 
tions  of  the  citizens  had  irresistibly  accelerated,  could  not  be 
completed  in  a  moment.  While  the  new  penitentiaries  were 
being  erected  (and  it  was  the  pleasure  of  the  majority  they 
should  be  terminated  with  all  possible  celerity),  the  old  pri 
sons  existed,  which  still  contained  a  great  number  of  offend 
ers.  These  jails  became  more  unwholesome  and  more  cor 
rupt  in  proportion  as  the  new  establishments  were  beautified 
and  improved,  forming  a  contrast  which  may  readily  be  un 
derstood.  The  majority  was  so  eagerly  employed  in  found 
ing  the  new  prisons,  that  those  which  already  existed  were 
forgotten  ;  and  as  the  general  attention  was  diverted  to  a 
novel  object,  the  care  which  had  hitherto  been  bestowed  upon 
the  others  ceased.  The  salutary  regulations  of  discipline 
were  first  relaxed,  and  afterward  broken  ;  so  that  in  the  im 
mediate  neighborhood  of  a  prison  which  bore  witness  to  the 
mild  and  enlightened  spirit  of  our  time,  dungeons  might  be 
met  with,  which  reminded  the  visitor  of  the  barbarity  of  the 
middle  ages. 


TYRANNY    OF    THE    MAJORITY. 

How  the  Principle  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  People  is  to  be  under 
stood  — Impossibility  of  conceiving  a  mixed  Government. — The  sov 
ereign  Power  must  centre  somewhere. — Precautions  to  be  taken  to 
control  its  Action. — These  Precautions  have  not  been  taken  in  the 
United  States. — Consequences. 

I  HOLD  it  to  be  an  impious  and  an  execrable  maxim  that,  poli 
tically  speaking,  a  people  has  a  right  to  do  whatsoever  it 
pleases  ;  and  yet  I  have  asserted  that  all  authority  originates 


260       CONSEQUENCES  OF  UNLIMITED  POWER  OF 

in  the  will  of  the  majority.     Am  I,  then,  in  contradiction 
wjth  myself? 

A  general  law — which  bears  the  name  of  justice — has 
m  made  and  sanctioned,  not  only  by  a  majority  of  this  or 
that  people,  but  by  a  majority  of  mankindX.  The  rights  of 
every  people  are  consequently  confined  witmn  the  limits  of 
what  is  just.  A  nation  may  be  considered  in  the  light  of  a 
jury  which  is  empowered  to  represent  society  at  large,  and 
to  apply  the  great  and  general  law  of  justice.  Ought  such  a 
jury,  which  represents  society,  to  have  more  power  than  the 
society  in  which  the  laws  it  applies  originate  ? 

^\Vhen  I  refuse  to  obey  an  unjust  law,  I  do  not  contest  the 
right  which  the  majority  has  of  commanding,  but  I  simply 
appeal  from  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  to  the  sovereignty 
of  mankindv>  It  has  been  asserted  that  a  people  can  never 
'-.   entirely  outstep  the  boundaries  of  justice  and  of  reason  in 
v':  those  affairs  which  are  more  peculiarly  its  own;  and  that 
consequently  full  power  may  fearlessly  be  given  to  the  ma 
jority  by  which  it  is  represented.     But  this  language  is  that 
of  a  slave. 

A  majority  taken  collectively  may  be  regarded  as  a 
being  whose  opinions,  and  most  frequently  whose  interests, 
are  opposed  to  those  of  another  being,  which  is  styled  a  minor 
ity.  If  it  be  admitted  that  a  man,  possessing  absolute  power, 
may  misuse  that  power  by  wronging  his  adversaries,  why 
should  a  majority  not  be  liable  to  the  same  reproueli  ?  Men 
are  not  apt  to  change  their  characters  by  agglomeration  ;  nor 
does  their  patience  in  the  presence  of/obstacles  increase  with 
the  consciousness  of  their  strength.*^  And  for  these  reasons  I 
can  never  willingly  invest  any  number  of  my  fellow-crea 
tures  with  that  unlimited  authority  which  I  should  refuse  to 
any  one  of  them/^, 

I  do  not  think  it  is  possible  to  combine  several  principles  in 
the  same  government,  so  as  at  the  same  time  to  maintain 
freedom,  and  really  to  oppose  them  to  one  another.  The 
form  of  government  which  is  usuallv  termed  mixed  has  always 
appeared  to  me  to  be  a  mere  chimera.  ^Accurately  speaking, 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  mixe<d  government  (with  the 
meaning  usually  given  to  that  word),  because  in  all  commu 
nities  some  one  principle  of  action  may  be  discovered,  which 

*  No  one  will  assert  that  a  people  cannot  forcibly  wrong  another 
people:  but  parties  maybe  looked  upon  as  lesser  nations  within  a 
greater  one,  and  they  are  aliens  to  each  other  :  if  therefore  it  be  ad 
mitted  that  a  nation  can  act  tyrannically  toward  another  nation,  it  can 
not  be  denied  that  a  party  may  do  the  same  toward  another  party. 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  261 

^x 

preponderates  over  the  others^  England  in  the  last  century, 
which  has  been  more  especially  cited  as  an  example  of  this 
form  of  government,  was  in  point  of  fact  an  essentially  aris 
tocratic  state,  although  it  comprised  very  powerful  elements 
of  democracy  :  for  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  country  were 
such,  that  the  aristocracy  could  not  but  preponderate  in  the 
end,  and  subject  the  direction  of  public  affairs  to  its  own  will. 
The  error  arose  from  too  much  attention  being  paid  to  the 
actual  struggle  which  was  going  on  between  the  nobles  and 
the  people,  without  considering  the  probable  issue  of  the  con 
test,  which  was  in  reality  the  important  point.  When  a 
community  really  has  a  mixed  government,  that  is  to  say, 
when  it  is  equally  divided  between  two  adverse  principles,  it 
must  either  pass  through  a  revolution,  or  fall  into  complete 

dissolution.  <- — . 

I  am  therefore  of  opinion  that  some  one  social  power  must 
always  be  made  to  predominate  over  the  others  ;  but  I  think 
that  liberty  is  endangered  when  this  power  is  checked  by  no 
obstacles  which  may  retard  its  course,  and  force  it  to  mode 
rate  its  own  vehemence.  -* — 


Unlimited  power  is  in  itself  a  bad  and  dangerous  thing  ; 
human  beings  are  not  competent  to  exercise  it  with  discretion  ; 
and  Gojjl  alone  can  be  omnipotent,  because  his  wisdom  and 
his  justice  are  always  equal  to  his  power.  But  no  power 
upon  earth  is  so  worthy  of  honor  for  itself,  or  of  reverential 
obedience  to  the  rights  which  it  represents,  that  I  would  con 
sent  to  admit  its  uncontrolled  and  all-predominate  authority, 
^hen  1  see  that  the  right  and  the  means  of  absolute  com 
mand  are  conferred  on  a  people  or  upon  a  king,  upon  an 
aristocracy  or  a  democracy,  a  monarchy  or  a  republic,  I 
recognize  the  germ  of  tyranny,  and  I  journey  onward  to  a 
land  of  more  hopeful  institutions^- 

In  my  opinion  the  main  evil  of  the  present  democratic  jjn- 
stitutipns__o,f  the   United  States  does  not   arise,   as  is  often"^ 
asserted  in  Europe,  from  their  weakness,  but  from  their  over-  \  1 
powering  strength  ;  and  I  am  not  so  much  alarmed  at  the    \1 
excessive  liberty  which  reigns  in  that  country,  as  at  the  very^J 
inadequate  securities  which  exist  against  tyranny. 

When  an  individual  or  a  party  is  wronged  in  the  United 
States,  to  whom  can  he  apply  for  redress  ?  If  to  public 
opinion,  public  opinion  constitutes  the  majority  ;  if  to  the  le 
gislature,  it  represents  the  majority,  and  implicitly  obeys  its 
instructions  :  if  to  the  executive  power,  it  is  appointed  by  the 
majority  and  is  a  passive  tool  in  its  hands  ;  the  public  troops 
consist  of  the  majority  under  arms ;  the  jury  is  the  majority 


262  CONSEQUENCES    OF   UNLIMITED    POWER    OF 

invested  with  the  right  of  hearing  judicial  cases  ;  and  in  cer 
tain  states  even  the  judges  are  elected  by  the  majority. 
However  iniquitous  or  absurd  the  evil  of  which  you  complain 
may  be,  you  must  submit  to  it  as  well  as  you  can.* 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  legislative  power  could  be  so  con 
stituted  as  to  represent  the  majority  without  necessarily  being 
the  slave  of  its  passions;  an  executive,  so  as  to  retain  a 
certain  degree  of  uncontrolled  authority  ;  and  a  judiciary,  so 
as  to  remain  independent  of  the  two  other  powers  ;  a  govern 
ment  would  be  formed  which  would  still  be  democratic,  with 
out  incurring  any  risk  of  tyrannical  abuse. 

I  do  not  say  that  tyrannical  abuses  frequently  occur  in 
America  at  the  present  day  ;  but  I  maintain  that  no  sure 
barrier  is  established  against  them,  and  that  the  causes  which 

*  A  striking  instance  of  the  excesses  which  may  be  occasioned  by  the 
despotism  of  the  majority  occurred  at  Baltimore  in  the  year  1812.  At 
that  time  the  war  was  very  popular  in  Baltimore.  A  journal  which 
had  taken  the  other  side  of  the  question  excited  the  indignation  of  the 
inhabitants  by  its  opposition.  The  populace  assembled,  broke  the 
printing-presses,  and  attacked  the  houses  of  the  newspaper  editors. 
sThe  militia  was  called  out,  but  no  one  obeyed  the  call ;  and  the  only 
A  means  of  saving  the  poor  wretches  who  were  threatened  by  the  phrensy 
^  of  the  mob,  was  to  throw  them  into  prison  as  common  malefactors. 
But  even  this  precaution  was  ineffectual ;  the  mob  collected  again 
during  the  night ;  the  magistrates  again  made  a  vain  attempt  to  call  out 
the  militia;  the  prison  was  forced,  one  of  the  newspaper  editors  was 
killed  upon  the  spot,  and  the  others  were  left  for  dead :  the  guilty 
parties  were  acquitted  by  the  jury  when  they  were  brought  to  trial. 

I  said  one  day  to  an  inhabitant  of  Pennsylvania  :  "  Be  so  good  as  to 
explain  to  me  how  it  happens,  that  in  a  state  founded  by  quakers,  and 
celebrated  for  its  toleration,  freed  blacks  are  not  allowed  to  exercise 
civil  rights.  They  pay  the  taxes :  is  it  not  fair  that  they  should  have 
a  vote." 

"  You  insult  us,"  replied  my  informant,  "  if  you  imagine  that  our 
legislators  could  have  committed  so  gross  an  act  of  injustice  and  intole 
rance." 

"  What,  then,  the  blacks  possess  the  right  of  voting  in  this  country  ?" 

"  Without  the  smallest  doubt." 

"  How  comes  it  then,  that  at  the  polling-booth  this  morning  I  did 
not  perceive  a  single  negro  in  the  whole  meeting  ?" 

"  This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  law  ;  the  negroes  have  the  undisputed 
right  of  voting  ;  but  they  voluntarily  abstain  from  making  their  appear 
ance." 

"  A  very  pretty  piece  of  modesty  on  their  parts,"  rejoined  I. 

"  Why,  the  truthjs,thatj;hfty  arft  P"t  Hidnr^jnpd  tp  yntg,  Hnt  th°y 
are  afraid  oi'  being  jV)aTtrAatqj_-_in  jlnis  county  the  law  is  snmeh'Trpa 
uoable  to  maintain  it_s._aulhjQrity.-without -the  support  of  the  majority./ 
But  in  this  case  the  majority  entertains  very  strong  prejudices  against 
the  blacks,  and  the  magistrates  are  unable  to  protect  them  in  the  exer 
cise  of  their  legal  privileges." 

I    "  What,  then,  the  majority  claims  the  right  not  only  of  making  the 
laws,  but  of  breaking  the  laws  it  has  made  ?" 


THE    MAJORITY    IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  263 

mitigate  the  government  are  to  be  found  in  the  circumstances 

and  the  manners  of  the  country  more  than  its  laws. 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    UNLIMITED    POWER    OF    THE    MAJORITY    UPON 

THE    ARBITRARY     AUTHORITY    OF     THE     AMERICAN     PUBLIC 

OFFICERS. 

Liberty  left  by  the  American  Laws  to  public  Officers  within  a  certain 
Sphere. — Their  Power. 

A  DISTINCTION  must  be  drawn  between  tyranny  and  arbitrary 
power.  Tyranny  may  be  exercised  by  means  of  the  law, 
and  in  that  case  it  is  not  arbitrary  ;  arbitrary  power  may  be 
exercised  for  the  good  of /the  community  at  large,  in  which 
case  it  is  not  tyrannical,  /tyranny  usually  employs  arbitrary 
means,  but,  if  necessary,  it  can  rule  without  themV 

In  the  United  States  the  unbounded  power  of  the  majority, 
which  is  favorable  to  the  legal  despotism  of  the  legislature^  is 
likewise  favorable  to  the  arbitrary  authority  of  the  magistrates. 
The  majority  has  an  entire  control  over  the  law  when  it  is  made 
and  when  it  is  executed ;  and  as  it  possesses  an  equal 
authority  over  those  who  are  in  power,  and  the  community  at 
large,  it  considers  public  officers  as  its  passive  agents,  and 
readily  confides  the  task  of  serving  its  designs  to  their  vigi 
lance.  The  details  of  their  office  ap^  the  privileges .which 
thex_are  to  enjoy  are  rarely  defined  beforehand  ;  but  the 
majority  treats  them  as  a  master~~cloes  Iris  servants,  when 
they  are  always  at  work  in  his  sight,  and  he  has  the  power 
of  directing  or  reprimanding  them  at  every  instant. 

In  general  the  American  functionaries  are  far  more  inde 
pendent  than  the  French  civil  officers,  within  the  sphere 
which  is  prescribed  to  them.  Sometimes,  even,  they  are 
allowed  by  the  popular  authority  to  exceed  those  bounds  ;  and 
as  they  are  protected  by  the  opinion,  and  backed  by  the  co 
operation  of  the  majority,  they  venture  upon  such  manifesta 
tions  of  their  power  as  astonish  a  European.  \By  this  means 
habits  are  formed  in  the  heart  of  a  free  country  which  may 
some  day  prove  fatal  to  its  liberties^ 


264  CONSEQUENCES    OF   UNLIMITED   POWER   OF 


POWER  EXERCISED  BY  THE  MAJORITY  IN  AMERICA  UPON  OPINION. 

Tin  America,  when  the  Majority  has  once  irrevocably  decided  a  Question, 

\      all  Discussion  ceases. — Reason  of  this. — Moral  Power  exercised  by 

1      the  Majority  upon  Opinion. — Democratic  Republics  have  deprived 

Despotism  of  its  physical  Instruments — Their  Despotism  sways  the* 

v^Minds  of  Men. 

IT  is  in  the  examination  of  the  display  of  public  opinion  in  the 
United  States,  that  we  clearly  perceive  how  far  the  power  of 
the  majority  surpasses  all  the  powers  with  which  we  are 
acquainted  in  Europe.  Intellectual  principles  exercise  an 
influence  which  is  so  invisible  and  often  so  inappreciable,  that 
they  baffle  the  toils  of  oppression.  At  the  present  time  the 
most  absolute  monarchs  in  Europe  are  unable  to  prevent 
certain  notions,  which  are  opposed  to  their  authority,  from 
circulating  in  secret  throughout  their  dominions,  and  even  in 
their  courts  J  Such  is  not  the  case  in  America  ;  go.  Jong  .as 

f~tBe  majority  is  still  undecided,  discussion  is  carried  on  ;  but 
as  soon  as  its  decision  is  irrevocably  pronounced,  a  submissive 
silence  is  observed  ;  and  the  friends,  as  well  as  the  opponents 
of  the  measure,  unite  in  assenting  to  its  propriety.  The 
reason  of  this  is  perfectly  clear  :  no  monarch  is  so  absolute  as 
to  combine  all  the  powers  of  society  in  his  own  hands,  and  to 
conquer  all  opposition,  with  the  energy  of  a  majority,  which 
isjnvested  with  the  right  of  making  and  of  executing  the  laws. 
.  The  authority  of  a  king  is  purely  physical,  and  it  controls 
the  actions  of  the  subject  without  subduing  his  private  will  ; 
but  the  majority  possesses  a  'power  which  is  physical  and  mr>. 
I  ralatthe  same  time  :  it  acts  upon  foe i  will  as  wpll  as  upon 
tfie  actions  of  men,  and  it  represses  not  only  all  contest,  but 

1  know  no  country  in  which  tfiorc  is  so  little  true  indepen 
dence  of  mind  and  freedom  of  discussion  as  in  America.  In 
any  constitutional  state  in  Europe  every  sort  of  religious  and 
political  theory  may  be  advocated  and  propagated  abroad ; 
for  there  is  no  country  in  Europe  so  subdued  by  any  single 
authority,  as  not  to  contain  citizens  who  are  ready  to  protect 
.the  man  who  raises  his  voice  in  the  cause  of  truth,  from  the 
consequences  of  his  hardihood.  If  he  is  unfortunate  enough 
to  live  under  an  absolute  government,  the  people  is  upon  his 
side  ;  if  he  inhabits  a  free  country,  he  may  find  a  shelter  be 
hind  the  authority  of  the  throne,  if  he  require  one.  The 
aristocratic  part  of  society  supports  him  in  some  countries, 
and  the  democracy  in  others.  But  in  a  nation  where  demo- 


THE    MAJORITY   IN    THE   UNITED    STATES.  265 

cratic  institutions  exist,  organized  like  those  of  the  United 
States,  there  is  but  one  sole  authority,  one  single  element  of 
strength  and  success,  with  nothing  beyond  it. 

In  America,  the  majority  raises  very  fonftifla.hlp.  hnm'pra 
to  the  liberty  of  opinion  :  within  these  barriers  an  author  may 
write  whatever  he  pleases,  but  he  will  repent  it  if  he  ever  step 
beyond  them.  Not  that  he  is  exposed  to  the  terrors  of  airau- 
to-da-fe,  but  he  is  tormented  by  the  slights  and  persecutions  of 
daily  obloquy,  ^rlis  political  career  is  closed  for  ever,  since  jw 
he  has  offended  the  only  authority  which  is  able  to  promote 
his  successX  Every  sort  of  compensation,  even  that  of  cele 
brity,  is  refused  to  him.  Before  he  published  his  opinions,  lie 
imagined  that  he  held  them  in  common  with  many  others  ; 
but  no  sooner  has  he  declared  them  openly,  than  he  is  loudly 
censured  by  his  overbearing  opponents,  while  those  who 
think,  without  having  the  courage  to  speak,  like  him,  aban 
don  him  in  silence.  He  yields  at  length,  oppressed  by  the 
daily  efforts  he  has  been  making,  and  he  subsides  into  silence 
as  if  he  was  tormented  by  remorse  for  having  spoken  the 
truth. 

Fetters  and  headsmen  were  the  coarse  instruments  which 
tyranny  formerly  employed ;  but  the  civilisation  of  our  age 
has  refined  the  arts  of  despotism,  which  seemed  however  to  have 
been  sufficiently  perfected  before.  \The  excesses  of  monar 
chical  power  had  devised  a  variety  01  political  -means  -af_pp- 
prp.ssiQ]Tj  the  democratic  republics  of  the  present  day  have 
rendered  it  as  entirely  an   affair  of  the  mind,    as  that  will 
which  it  is  intended  to  coerce^.  Under  the  absolute  sway  of 
an  individual  despot,  the  body  was  attacked  in  order  to  subdue 
the  soul ;  and  the  soul  escaped  the  blows  which  were  directed 
against  it,  and  rose  superior  to  the  attempt ;  but  such  is  not 
the  course  adopted  by  tyranny  in  democratic  republics  ;  there 
the  body  is  left  free,  and  the  soul  is  enslaved.     The  sc 
can  no  longer  say,  "  You  shall  think  as  I  do  on  pain  of  death]1 
but  he  says,  "  You  are  free  to  think  differently  from  me,  anc 
to  retain  your  life,  your  property,  and  all  that  you  possess  A 
but  if  such  be  your  determination,    you   are  henceforth  an 
alien  among  your  people.     You  may  retain  your  civil  rights, 
but  they  will  be  useless  to  you,  for  you  will  never  be  chosen 
by  your  fellow-citizens,  if  you   solicit  their  suffrages  ;    am 
they  will  affect  to  scorn  you,  if  you  solicit  their  esteem.     You 
will  remain  among  men,  but  you  will  be  deprived  of  the  rights 
of  mankind.     Your  fellow-creatures  will  shun  you  like  an 
impure  being  ;  and  those  who  are  most  persuaded  of  your  in 
nocence  will  abandon  you  too,  lest  they  should  be  shunned  in 


266  CONSEQUENCES    OF    UNLIMITED    POWER    OF 

their  turn.  Go  in  peace  !  T  have  given  you  your  life,  but  it 
is  an  existence  incomparably  worse  than  death." 

Absolute  monarchies  have  thrown  an  odium  upon  despot 
ism  ;  let  us  be*ware  lest  democratic  republics  should  restore 
oppression,  and  should  render  it  less  odious  and  less  degrading 
in  the  eyes  of  the  many,  by  making  it  still  more  onerous  to 
the  few. 

Works  have  been  published  in  the  proudest  nations  of  the 
Old  World,  expressly  intended  to  censure  the  vices  and  deride 
the  follies  of  the  time  ;  Labruyere  inhabited  the  palace  of 
Louis  XIV.  when  he  composed  his  chapter  upon  the  Great, 
and  Moliere  criticised  the  courtiers  in  the  very  pieces  which 
were  acted  before  the  court.  But  the  ruling  power  in  the 
United  States  is  not  to  be  made  game  of;  the  smallest  reproach 
irritates  its  sensibility,  and  the  slightest  joke  which  has  any 
foundation  in  truth,  renders  it  indignant ;  from  the  style  of 
its  language  to  the  more  solid  virtues  of  its  character,  every 
thing  must  be  made  the  subject  of  encomium.  No  writer,  what 
ever  be  his  eminence,  can  escape  from  this  tribute  of  adula 
tion  to  his  fellow-citizens.  \The  majority  lives  in  the  perpe 
tual  exercise  of  self-applause ^.and  there  are  certain  truths 
which  the  Americans  can  only  learn  from  strangers  or  from 
experience. 

If  great  writers  have  not  at  present  existed  in  America, 
the  reason  is  very  simply  given  in  these  facts ;  there  can__J>e 
no  literary  genius .without  freedom  of  opinjon:  and  freedom 
of  opinion  dors  not  exist  in  America.  The  inquisition  has 
never  been  able  to  prevent  a  vast  number  of  anti-religious 
books  from  circulating  in  Spain.  The  empire  of  the  majority 
succeeds  much  better  in  the  United  States,  since  it  actually 
removes  the  wish  of  publishing  them.  Unbelievers  are  to  be 
met  with  in  America,  but,  to  say  the  truth j^BgxfiJs  no  public 
organ  of  infidelityX  Attempts  have  been  made  by  some  govern 
ments  to  protect  tne  morality  of  nations  by  prohibiting  licen 
tious  books.  In  the  United  States  no  one  is  punished  for  this 
so~t  of  works,  but  no  one  is  induced  to  write  them  ;  not  be- 
ca  ise  all  the  citizens  are  immaculate  in  their  manners,  but 
because  the  majority  of  the  community  is  decent  and  or 
derly. 

\  In  these  cases  the  advantages  derived  from  the  exercise 
of  this  power  arc  unquestionable  ;  and  I  am  simply  dis 
cussing  the  nature  of  the  power  itself.  This  irresistible  au 
thority  is  a  Constant  fact,  and  its_beneficent  exercise  is  an  ac 
cidental  occurrence^ 


THE   MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  267 


EFFECTS   OF    THE    TYRANNY    OF    THE     MAJORITY   UPON    THE    NA 
TIONAL    CHARACTER    IN    THE    AMERICANS. 

Effects  of  the  Tyranny  of  the  Majority  more  sensibly  felt  hitherto  in 
the  Manners  than  in  the  Conduct  of  Society. — They  check  the  de 
velopment  of  leading  Characters. — Democratic  Republics,  organized 
like  the  United  States,  bring  the  Practice  of  courting  favor  within 
the  reach  of  the  many.— Proofs  of  this  Spirit  in  the  United  States. — 
Why  there  is  more  Patriotism  in  the  People  than  in  those  who  go 
vern  in  its  name. 

THE  tendencies  which  I  have  just  alluded  to  are  as  yet  very 
slightly  perceptible  in  political  society  ;  but  they  already  be- 
gin  to  exercise  an  unfavorable  influence  upon  the  national 
character  of  the  Americans.  I  am  inclined  to  attribute  the 
<Cpaucity  of  distinguished  political  characters  to  the  ever- 
increasing  activity  of  the  despotism  of  the  majority  in  the 
United  States.^ 

When  the  American  revolution  broke  out,  they  arose  in 
great  numbers  ;  for  public  opinion  then  served,  not  to  tyran 
nize  over,  but  to  direct  the  exertions  of  individuals.  Those  cele 
brated  men  took  a  full  part  in  the  general  agitation  of  mind 
common  at  that  period,  and  they  attained  a  high  degree  of 
personal  fame,  which  was  reflected  back  upon  the  nation,  but 
which  was  by  no  means  borrowed  from  it. 

In  absolute  governments,  the  great  nobles  who  are  nearest 
to  the  throne  flatter  the  passions  of  the  sovereign,  and  vo 
luntarily  truckle  to  his  caprices.  But  the  mass  of  the  nation 
does  not  degrade  itself  by  servitude  ;  it  often  submits  from 
weakness,  from  habit,  or  from  ignorance,  and  sometimes  from 
loyalty.  Some  nations  have  been  known  to  sacrifice  their 
own  desires  to  those  of  the  sovereign  with  pleasure  and  with 
pride  ;  thus  exhibiting  a  sort  of  independence  in  the  very  act 
of  submission.  These  peoples  are  miserable,  but  they  are  not 
degraded.  There  is  a  great  difference  between  doing  what 
one  does  not  approve,  and  feigning  to  approve  what  one  does ; 
the  one  is  the  necessary  case  of  a  weak  person,  the  other  be 
fits  the  temper  of  a  lacquey. 

In  free  countries,  where  every  one  is  more  or  less  called 
upon  to  give  his  opinions  in  the  affairs  of  state  ;  in  democra 
tic  republics,  where  public  life  is  incessantly  commingled  with 
domestic  affairs,  where  the  sovereign  authority  is  accessible  on 
every  side,  and  where  its  attention  can  almost  always  be  at 
tracted  by  vociferation,  more  persons  are  to  be  met  with  who  spe 
culate  upon  its  foibles,  and  live  at  the  cost  of  its  passions,  than 


268  CONSEQUENCES    OF    UNLIMITED    POWER    OF 

in  absolute  monarchies.  <m>t  because  men  are  naturally' 
worse  in  these  states  than  elsewhere,  but  the  temptation  is 
stronger,  and  of  easier  access  at  the  same  time^  The  re 
sult  is  a  far  more  extensive  debasement  of  the  characters 
^citizens. 

^Democratic  republics  extend  the  practice  of  currying  fa 
vor  with  the  many,  and  they  introduce  it  into  a  great  number 
of  classes  at  once  :  this  is  one  of  the  most  serious  reproaches 
that  can  be  addressed  to  them\  In  democratic  states  organ 
ized  on  the  principles  of  the  American  republics,  this  is  more 
especially  the  case,  where  the  authority  of  the  majority  is  so 
absolute  and  so  irresistible,  that  a  man  must  give  up  his  rights 
as  a  citizen,  and  almost  abjure  his  quality  as  a  human  being, 
if  he  intends  to  stray  from  the  track  which  it  lays  down. 

In  that  immense  crowd  which  throngs  the  avenues  to  power  • 
in  the  United  States,  I  found  very  few  men  who  displayed  any 
of  that  manly  candor,  and  that  masculine  independence  of 
opinion,  which  frequently  distinguished  the  Americans  in 
former  times,  and  which  constitute  the  leading  feature  in 
distinguished  characters  wheresoever  they  may  be  found.^It 
seems,  at  first  sight,  as  if  all  the  minds  of  the  Americans 
were  formed  upon  one  model,  so  accurately  do  they  cor 
respond  in  their  manner  of  judging.^  A  stranger  does,  indeed, 
sometimes  meet  with  Americans  who  dissent  from  these 
rigorous  formularies  ;  with  men  who  deplore  the  defects  of  the 
laws,  the  mutability  and  the  ignorance  of  democracy ;  who 
even  go  so  far  as  to  observe  the  evil  tendencies  which  impair 
the  national  character,  and  to  point  out  such  remedies  as  it 
might  be  possible  to  apply  ;  but  no  one  is  there  to  hear  these 
things  besides  yourself,  and  you,  to  whom  these  secret  reflec 
tions  are  confided,  are  a  stranger  and  a  bird  of  passage. 
They  are  very  ready  to  communicate  truths  which  are  use- 
ess  to  you,  but  they  continue  to  hold  a  different  language  in 
public. 

If  ever  these  lines  are  read  in  America,  I  am  well  assured 
:>f  two  things:  in  the  first  pi  ice,  that  all  who  peruse  them 
will  raise  their  voices  to  condemn  me  ;  and  in  the  second 
place,  that  very  many  of  them  will  acquit  me  at  the  bottom 
of  their  conscience. 

[The  author's  views  upon  what  he  terms  the  tyranny  of  the  majority, 
the  despotism  of  public  opinion  in  the  United  States,  have  already  ex 
cited  some  remarks  in  this  country,  and  will  probably  give  occasion  to 
more.  As  stated  in  the  preface  to  this  edition,  the  editor  does  not  con 
ceive  himself  called  upon  to  discuss  the  speculative  opinions  of  the 
author,  and  supposes  he  will  best  discharge  his  duty  by  confining  hia 


I 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  269 

observations  to  what  he  deems  errors  of  fact  or  law.  But  in  reference 
to  this  particular  subject,  it  seems  due  to  the  author  to  remark,  that  he 
visited  the  United  States  at  a  particular  time,  when  a  successful  poli 
tical  chieftain  had  succeeded  in  establishing  his  party  in  power,  as  it 
seemed,  firmly  and  permanently ;  when  the  preponderance  of  that 
party  was  immense,  and  when  there  seemed  little  prospect  of  any 
change.  He  may  have  met  with  men,  who  sank  under  the  astonish"- 
ing  popularity  of  General  Jackson,  who  despaired  of  the  republic,  and 
who  therefore  shrank  from  the  expression  of  their  opinions.  It  must 
be  confessed,  however,  that  the  author  is  obnoxious  to  the  charge 
which  has  been  made,  of  the  want  of  perspicuity  and  distinctness  in 
this  part  of  his  work.  He  does  not  mean  that  the  press  was  silent,  for 
he  has  himself  not  only  noticed,  but  furnished  proof  of  the  great  free 
dom,  not  to  say  licentiousness,  with  which  it  assailed  the  character  of 
the  president,  and  the  measures  of  his  administration. 

He  does  not  mean  to  represent  the  opponents  of  the  dominant  party 
as  having  thrown  down  their  weapons  of  warfare,  for  his  book  shows 
throughout  his  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  an  active  and  able  party, 
constantly  opposing  and  harassing  the  administration. 

But,  after  a  careful  perusal  of  the  chapters  on  this  subject,  the  editor 
is  inclined  to  the  opinion,  that  M.  De  Tocqueville  intends  to  speak  of 
the  tyranny  of  the  party  in  excluding  from  public  employment  all 
those  who  do  not  adopt  the  Shibboleth  of  the  majority.     The  language 
at  pp.  266,  267,  which  he  puts  in  the  mouth  of  a  majority,  and  his 
observations  immediately  preceding  this  note,  seem  to  furnish  the  key    A 
to  his  meaning;  although  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  are  other  '  j' 
passages  to  which  a  wider  construction  may  be  given.     Perhaps  they    j 
may  be  reconciled  by  the  idea  that  the  author  considers  the  acts  and    f 
opinions  of  the  dominant  party  as  the  just  and  true  expression  of  pub-    / 
lie  opinion.     And  hence,  when  he  speaks  of  the  intolerance  of  public  / 
opinion,  he  means  the  exclusiveness  of  the  party,  which,  for  the  time  / 
being,  may  be  predominant.     He  had  seen  men  of  acknowledged  com-  I 
petency  removed  from  office,  or  excluded  from  it,  wholly  on  the  ground  t 
of  their  entertaining  opinions  hostile  to  those  of  the  dominant  party,  or 
majority.     And  he  had  seen  this  system  extended  to  the  very  lowest  \ 
officers  of  the  government,  and  applied  by  the  electors  in  their  choice   I  , 
of  all  officers  of  all  descriptions ;  and  this  he  deemed  persecution —  t ' 
tyranny — despotism.     But  he  surely  is  mistaken  in  representing  the   1  i 
effect  of  this  system  of  terror  as  stifling  all  complaint,  silencing  all  op-  U 
position,  and  inducing  "  enemies  and  friends  to  yoke  themselves  alike    \J 
to  the  triumphant  car  of  the  majority."  \Jl£  mistook  a  temporary  state 
of  parties  for  a  permanent  and  ordinary  resujt,  and  he  was  carried  away 
by  the  immense  majority  that  then  supported  the  administration,  to  the 
belief  of  a  universal  acquiescence.     Without  intending  here  to  speak 
of  the  merits  or  demerits  of  those  who  represented  that  majority,  it  is 
proper  to  remark,  that  the  great  change  which  has  taken  place  since 
the  period  when  the  author  wrote,  in  the  political  condition  of  the  very 
persons  who  he  supposed  then  wielded  the  terrors  of  disfranchisement 
against  their  opponents,  in  itself  furnishes  a  full  and  complete  demon 
stration  of  the  error  of  his  opinions  respecting  the  "  true  independence 
of  mind  and  freedom  of  discussion"  in  America.     For  without  such 
discussion  to  enlighten  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  without  a  stern 
independence  of  the  rewards  and  threats  of  those  in  power,  the  change 
alluded  to  could  not  have  occurred. 

There  is  reason  to  complain  not  only  of  the  ambiguity,  but  of  the 
style  of  exaggeration  which  pervades  all  the  remarks  of  the  author  on 


270       CONSEQUENCES  OF  UNLIMITED  POWER  OF 

i 

this  subject — so  different  from  the  well  considered  and  nicely  adjusted 
language  employed  by  him  on  all  other  topics.  Thus,  p.  262,  he  im 
plies  that  there  is  no  means  of  redress  afforded  even  by  the  judiciary, 
for  a  wrong  committed  by  the  majority.  His  error  is,  first,  in  sup 
posing  the  jury  to  constitute  the  judicial  power;  second,  overlooking 
what  he  has  himself  elsewhere  so  well  described,  the  independence 
of  the  judiciary,  and  its  means  of  controlling  the  action  of  a  majority 
in  a  state  or  in  the  federal  government ;  and  thirdly,  in  omitting  the 
proper  consideration  of  the  frequent  changes  of  popular  sentiment  by 
which  the  majority  of  yesterday  becomes  the  minority  of  to-day,  and 
L~  acts  of  injustice  are  reversed. 

ertain  it  is  that  the  instances  which  he  cites  at  this  page,  do  not 
establish  his  position  respecting  the  disposition  of  the  majority.  The 
riot  at  Baltimore  was,  like  other  riots  in  England  and  in  France,  the 
result  of  popular  phrensy  excited  to  madness  by  conduct  of  the  most 
provoking  character.  The  majority  in  the  state  of  Maryland  and 
throughout  the  United  States,  highly  disapproved  the  acts  of  vio 
lence  committed  on  the  occasion.  The  acquittal  by  a  jury  of-those  ar 
raigned  for  the  murder  of  General  Lingan,  proves  only  that  there  was 
not  sufficient  evidenced  identify  the  accused,  or  that  the  jury  was 
governed  by  passion.  Qtis  not  perceived  how  the  majority  of  the  peo 
ple  are  answerable  for  the  verdicts  rendered\  The  guilty  have  often 
been  erroneously  acquitted  in  all  countries,  and  in  France  particularly, 
recent  instances  are  not  wanting  of  acquittals  especially  in  prosecutions 
for  political  offences,  against  clear  and  indisputable  testimony.  And 
it  was  entirely  fortuitous  that  the  jury  was  composed  of  men  whose 
sympathies  were  with  the  rioters  and  murderers,  if  the  fact  was  so. 
It  not  unfrequently  happens  that  a  jury  taken  from  lists  furnished 
years  perhaps,  and  always  a  long  time,  before  the  trial,  are  decidedly 
hostile  to  the  temporary  prevailing  sentiments  of  their  city,  county, 
or  state. 

As  in  the  other  instance,  if  the  inhabitant  of  Pennsylvania  intended 
to  intimate  to  our  author,  that  a  colored  voter  would  be  in  personal 
jeopardy  for  venturing  to  appear  at  the  polls  to  exercise  his  right,  it 
must  be  said  in  truth,  that  the  incident  was  local  and  peculiar,  and 
contrary  to  what  is  annually  seen  throughout  the  states  where  colored 
persons  .are  permitted  to  vote,  who  exercise  that  privilege  with  as  full 
immunity  from  injury  or  oppression,  as  any  white  citizen.  And,  after 
all,  it  is  believed  that  the  state  of  feeling  intimated  by  the  informant 
of  our  author,  is  but  an  indication  of  dislike  to  a  caste  degraded  by 
servitude  and  ignorance;  and  it  is  not  perceived  how  it  proves  the  des 
potism  of  a  majority  over  the  freedom  and  independence  of  opinion. 
If  it  be  true,  it'proves  a  detestable  tyranny  over  acts,  over  the  exercise 
of  an  acknowledged  right.  The  apprehensions  of  a  mob  committing 
violence  deterred  the  colored  voters  from  approaching  the  polls.  Are 
instances  unknown  in  England  or  even  in  France,  of  peaceable  sub 
jects  being  prevented  by  mobs  or  the  fear  of  them,  from  the  exercise 
of  a  right,  from  the  discharge  of  a  duty  ?  And  are  they  evidences  of  the 
despotism  of  a  majority  in  those  countries  ?— American  Editor.} 

\l  have  heard  of  patriotism  in  the  United  States,  and  it  is  a 
virtue  which  may  be  found  among  the  people,  but  never 
among  the  leaders  of  the  people^  This  may  be  explained  by 
analogy  ;  despotism  debases  the  oppressed,  much  more  than 
the  oppressor  ;  in  absolute  monarchies  the  king  has  often  great 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  271 

virtues,  but  the  courtiers  are  invariably  servi'.e.  It  is  true 
that  the  American  courtiers  do  not  say,  "  sire,"  or  "  your 
majesty  " — a  distinction  without  a  difference.  They  are  for 
ever  talking  of  the  natural  intelligence  of  the  populace  they 
serve ;  they  do  nc.t  debate  the  question  as  to  which  of  the 
virtues  of  their  master  are  pre-eminently  worthy  of  admira 
tion  ;  for  they  assure  him  that  he  possesses  all  the  virtues 
under  heaven  without  having  acquired  them,  or  without  caring 
to  acquire  them  :  they  do  not  give  him  their  daughters  and 
their  wives  to  be  raised  at  his  pleasure  to  the  rank  of  his  con 
cubines,  but,  by  sacrificing  their  opinions,  they  prostitute 
themselves.  Moralists  and  philosophers  in  America  are  not 
obliged  to  conceal  their  opinions  under  the  veil  of  allegory  ; 
but,  before  they  venture  upon  a  harsh  truth,  they  say  :  "  We 
are  aware  that  the  people  which  we  are  addressing  is  too 
superior  to  all  the  weaknesses  of  human  nature  to  lose  the 
command  of  its  temper  for  an  instant ;  and  we  should  not 
hold  this  language  if  we  were  not  speaking  to  men,  whom 
their  virtues  and  their  intelligence  render  more  worthy  of 
freedom  than  all  the  rest  of  the  world." 

It  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  sycophants  of  Louis 
XIV.  to  flatter  more  dexterously.  For  my  part,  I  am  per 
suaded  that  in  all  governments,  whatever  their  nature  may 
be,  servility  will  cower  to  force,  and  adulation  will  cling  to, 
power.  \  The  only  means  of  preventing  men  from  degradini 
themselves,  is  to  invest  no  one  with  that  ^unlimited  authority' 
which  is  the  surest  method  of  debasing  therriV 


THE    GREATEST  DANGERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLICS   PROTEED 
FROM    THE    UNLIMITED    POWER    OF    THE    MAJORITY. 

Democratic  Republics  liable  to  perish  from  a  misuse  of  their  Po  ver, 
and  not  by  Impotence. — The  Governments  of  the  American  Rej  ub- 
lics  are  more  Centralized  and  more  Energetic  than  those  of  the 
Monarchies  of  Europe. — Dangers  resulting  from  this. — Opinions  of 
Hamilton  and  Jefferson  upon  this  Point. 

GOVERNMENTS  usually  fall  a  sacrifice  to  impotence  or  to 
tyranny.  In  the  former  case  their  power  escapes  from  them: 
it  is  wrested  from  their  grasp  in  the  latter.  Many  observers 
who  have  noticed  the  anarchy  ef  domestic  states,  have  imag 
ined  that  the  government  of  those  states  was  naturally  weak 
and  impotent.  The  truth  is,  that  when  once  hostilities  are 
the 


272  CONSEQUENCES    OF    UNLIMITED    POWER    OF 

society.  But  I  do  not  think  that  a  democratic  power  is  natu 
rally  without  resources :  say  rather,  that  it  is  almost  always 
by  the  abuse  of  its  force,  and^he  misemployment  of  its  re 
sources,  that  a  democratic  government  failsA  Anarchy  is 
almost  always  produced  by  its  tyranny  o -  its  mistakes,  but  not 
by  its  want  of  strength. 

It  is  important  not  to  confound  stability  with  force,  or  the  great 
ness  of  a  thing  with  its  duration.  In  democratic  republics, 
the  power  whjcfr  directs*  society  is.  fipt  stable  ;  for  it  often 
changes  hands  and  assumes  a  new  direction.  But  whichever 
way  it  turns,  its  force  is  almost  irresistible.  The  govern 
ments  of  the  American  republics  appear  to  me  to  be  as  much 
centralized  as  those  of  the  absolute  monarchies  of  Europe, 
and  more  energetic  than  they  are.  I  do  not,  therefore,  ima 
gine  that  they  will  perish  from  weakness. j" 

*Ifx  ever  the  free  institutions  of  America  are  destroyed,  that 
event  may  be  attributed  to  the  unlimited  authority  of  the  ma- 
I  jority,  which  may  at  some  future  time  urge  the  minorities  to 
I  desperation,  and  oblige  them  to  have  recourse  to  physical 
|  force.  Anarchy  will  then  be  the  result,  but  it  will  have  been 
^brought  about  by  despotism. 

"""Mr.  jFfajTn'ltnn  expresses  the  same  opinion  in  the  Federalist, 
No.  51.  ."  It  is  of  great  importance  in  a  republic  not  only  to 
guard  the  society  against  the  oppression  of  its  rulers,  but  to 
guard  one  part  of  the  society  against  the  injustice  of  the  other 
part.  Justice  Js  the  end  of  government.  It  is  the  end  of 
civil  society.  It  ever  has  been,  and  ever  will  be  pursued 
until  it  be  obtained,  or  until  liberty  be  lost  in  the  pursuit.  In 
a  society,  under  the  forms  of  which  the  stronger  faction  can 
readily  unite  and  oppress  the  weaker,  anarchy  may  as  truly 
be  said  to  reign  as  in  a  state  of  nature,  where  the  weaker  in 
dividual  is  not  secured  against  the  violence  of  the  stronger : 
and  as  in  the  latter  state  even  the  stronger  individuals  are 
prompted  by  the  uncertainty  of  their  condition  to  submit  to  a 
government  which  may  protect  the  weak  as  well  as  them 
selves,  so  in  the  former  state  will  the  more  powerful  factions 
be  gradually  induced  by  a  like  motive  to  wish  for  a  govern 
ment  which  will  protect  all  parties,  the  weaker  as  well  as  the 
more  powerful.  It  can  be  little  doubted,  that  if  the  state  of 

*  This  power  may  be  centred  in  an  assembly,  in  which  case  it  will 
be  strong  without  being  stable  ;  or  it  may  be  centred  in  an  individual, 
in  which  case  it  will  be  less  strong,  but  more  stable. 

t  I  presume  that  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  here, 
as  well  as  throughout  the  remainder  of  this  chapter,  that  I  am  speak 
ing  not  of  the  federal  government,  but  of  the  several  governments  of 
each  state  which  the  majority  controls  at  its  pleasure. 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  273 

Rhode  Island  was  separated  from  the  confederacy  and  left  to 
itself,  the  insecurity  of  rights  under  the  popular  form  of  gov 
ernment  within  such  narrow  limits,  would  be  displayed  by 
such  reiterated  oppression  of  the  factious  majorities,  that  some 
power  altogether  independent  of  the  people  would  soon  be 
called  for  by  the  voice  of  the  very  factions  whose  misrule  had 
proved  the  necessity  of  it." 

Jefferson  has  also  expressed  himself  in  a  letter  to  Madi 
son  :*  "  The  executive  power  in  our  government  is  not  the 
only,  perhaps  not  even  the  principal  object  of  my  solicitude. 
The  tyranny  of  the  legislature  is  really  the  danger  most  to 
be  feared,  and  will  continue  to  be  so  Tor  many  years  To  "come. 
The  tyranny  of  the  executive  power  will  come  in  its  turn, 
but  at  a  more  distant  period."  ?— ~ 

I  am  glad  to  cite  the  opinion  of  Jefferson  upon  this  subject 
rather  than  that  of  another,  because  I  consider  him  to  be  the 
most  powerful  advocate  democracy  has  ever  sent  forth. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CAUSES   WHICH   MITIGATE   THE    TYRANNY  OF   THE   MAJORITY  IN 
THE   UNITED    STATES. 


4BSENCE    OF    CENTRAL  ADMINISTRATION. 

The  national  Majority  does  not  pretend  to  conduct  all  Business. — Is 
obliged  to  employ  the  town  and  county  Magistrates  to  execute  its 
supreme  Decisions. 

I  HAVE  already  pointed  out  the  distinction  which  is  to  be  made~7 
between  a  centralized  fflveininjEnl.  and  a  centralized  admin-  / 
istration.     The  formerj?xjsts_  in  Amgrjca,  but  the  latter jsj 
nearly  unknown  there  /~~ If  the  directing  power  of  the  American 
communities  had  both  these  instruments  of  government  at  its 
disposal,  and  united  the  habit  of  executing  its  own  commands 
to  the  right  of  commanding ;  if,  after  having  established  the 
general  principles  of  government,  it  descended  to  the  details  of 
public  business ;  and  if,  having  regulated  the  great  interests 
of  the  country,  it  would  penetrate  into  the  privacy  of  indi- 

*  15th  March,  1789 
18 


274  CAUSES    WHICH    MITIGATE    THE    TYRANNY    OF 

vidual  interest,  freedom  would  soon  be  banished  from  the  New 
World. 

But  in  the  United  States  the  majority;  which  so  frequently 
.displays  the  tastes  and  the  propensities  of  a  despot,  is  still 
destitute  of  the  more  perfect  instruments  of  tyranny. 

In  the  American  republics  the  activitv  of  the  central 
government  has  never  as  yet  been  extended  beyond  a  limited 
number  of  objects  sufficiently  prominent  to  call  forth  its 
attention.  The  secondary  affairs  of  society  have  never  been 
regulated  by  its  authority  ;  and  nothing  has  hitherto  betrayed 
its  desire  of  interfering  in  them.  ^The  majority  is  become 
more  and  more  absolute,  but  it  1ms  not  increased  the  preroga 
tives  of  the  central  government^  those  great  prerogatives 
have  been  confined  to  a  certain  sphere  ;  and  although  the 
despotism  of  the  majority  may  be  galling  upon  one  point,  it 
cannot  be  said  to  extend  to  all.  However  the  predominant 
party  of  the  nation  may  be  carried  away  by  its  passions  ; 
however  ardent  it  may  be  in  the  pursuit  of  its  projects,  it 
cannot  oblige  all  the  citizens  to  comply  with  its  desire  in  the 
le  manner,  and  at  the  same  time,  throughout  the  country. 
When  the  central  government  which  represents  that  majority 
J  has  issued  a  decree,  it  must  intrust  the  execution  of  its  will 
\  to  agents,  over  whom  it  frequently  has  no  control,  and  whom 
(jt  cannot  perpetually  direct.  Tij,Q.,^wnships^...municij)al 
bodies,  and  counties,  may  therefore  be  looked 'upon  as  concealed 
breakwaters,  which  check  or  part  the  tide  of  popular  excite 
ment.  If  an  oppressive  law  were  passed,  the  liberties  of  the 
people  would  still  be  protected  by  the  means  by  which  that 
law  would  be  put  in  execution :  the  majority  cannot  descend 
to  the  details,  and  (as  I  will  venture  to  style  them)  the 
puerilities  of  administrative  tyranny.  Nor  does  the  people 
entertain  that  full  consciousness  of  its  authority,  which  would 
prompt  it  to  interfere  in  these  matters  ;  it  knows  the  extent 
of  its  natural  powers,  but  it  is  unacquainted  with  the  increased 
resources  which  the  art  of  government  might  furnish. 
— 'This  point  deserves  attention  ;  for  if  a  democratic  republic, 
similar  to  that  of  the  United  States,  were  ever  founded  in  a 
country  where  the  power  of  a  single  individual  had  previously 
subsisted,  and  the  effects  of  a  centralized  administration  had 
sunk  deep  into  the  habits  and  the  laws  of  the  people,  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  assert,  that  in  that  country  a  more  insufferable 
despotism  would  prevail  than  any  which  now  exists  in  the 
absolute  monarchies  of  Europe  ;  or  indeed  than  any  which 
could  be  found  on  this  side  the  confines  of  Asia. 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE   UNITED    STATES.  275 


THE    PROFESSION   OF  THE   LAW   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES    SERVES 
TO    COUNTERPOISE    THE    DEMOCRACY. 

Utility  of  discriminating  the  natural  Propensities  of  the  Members  of 
the  legal  Profession  —  These  Men  called  upon  to  act  a  prominent 
Part  in  future  Society.  —  In  what  Manner  the  peculiar  Pursuits  of 
Lawyers  give  an  aristocratic  turn  to  their  Ideas.  —  Accidental  Causes 
which  may  check  this  Tendency.  —  Ease  with  which  the  Aristocracy 
coalesces  with  legal  Men.  —  Use  of  Lawyers  to  a  Despot.  —  The  Pro  • 
fession  of  the  Law  constitutes  the  only  aristocratic  Element  wiih 
which  the  natural  Elements  of  Democracy  will  combine.  —  Peculiar 
Causes  which  tend  to  give  an  aristocratic  turn  of  Mind  to  the  English 
and  American  Lawyer.  —  The  Aristocracy  of  America  is  on  the  Bench 
and  at  the  Bar.  —  Influence  of  Lawyers  upon  American  Society.  — 
Their  peculiar  magisterial  Habits  affect  the  Legislature,  the  Admin 
istration,  and  even  the  People. 

IN  visiting  the  Americans  and  in  studying  their  laws,  we  per 
ceive  that  the  authority  they  have  intrusted  to  members  of  the 
legal  profession,  and  the  influence  which  these  individuals 
exercise  in  the  government,  is  the  most  powerful  existing 
security  against  the  excesses  of  democracy. 

This  effect  seems  to  me  to  result  from  a  general  cause 
which  it  is  useful  to  investigate,  since  it  may  produce  analogous 
consequences  elsewhere. 

The  members  of  the  legal  profession  have  taken  an  im 
portant  part  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  political  society  in 
Europe  during  the  last  five  hundred  years.  At  one  time  they 
have  been  the  instruments  of  those  who  are  invested  with 
political  authority,  and  at  another  they  have  succeeded  in 
converting  political  authorities  into  their  instrument.  In  the 
middle  ages  they  afforded  a  powerful  support  to  the  crown  ; 
and  since  that  period  they  have  exerted  themselves  to  the 
utmost  to  limit  the  royal  prerogative.  In  England  they  have 
contracted  a  close  alliance  with  the  aristocracy  ;  in  France 
they  have  proved  to  be  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  that 
class.  It  is  my  object  to  inquire  whether,  under  all  these 
circumstances,  the  members  of  the  legal  profession  have  been 
swayed  by  sudden  and  momentary  impulses  ;  or  whether 
they  have  been  impelled  by  principles  which  are  inherent  in 
their  pursuits,  and  which  will  always  recur  in  history.  I  am 
incited  to  this  investigation  by  reflecting  that\this  particular 
class  of  men  will  most  likely  play  a  prominent  part  in  that 
order  of  things  to  which  the  events  of  our  time  are  giving 


Men  who  have  more  especially  devoted  themselves  to  legal 
pursuits,  derive  from  those  occupations  certain  habits  of  order, 


276  CAUSES    WHICH    MITIGATE    THE    TYRANNY    OF 

a  taste  for  formalities,  and  a  kind  of  instinctive  regard  for  the 
regular  connexion  of  ideas,  which  naturally  render  them  very 
hostile  to  the. revolutionary  spirit  and  the  unreflecting  passions 
of  the  multitude. 

The  special  information  which  lawyers  derive  from  their 
studies,  ensures  them  a__separate  station  in  society :  and  thay 
constitute  a  sort  of/privileged  body  in  the  scale  of  intelligence^*. 
This  notion  of  their  superiority  perpetually  recurs  to  them  in 
the  practice  of  their  profession :  they  are  the  masters  of  a 
science  which  is  necessary,  but  which  is  not  very  generally 
known  :  they  serve  as  arbiters  between  the  citizens  ;  and  the 
habit  of  directing  the  blind  passions  of  parties  in  litigation  to 
their  purpose,  inspires  them  with  a_  certain  contempt  for  the 
judgment  of  the  multitude.  To  this  it  may  be  added,  that 
they  naturally  constitute  a  body  ;  not  by  any  previous  under 
standing,  or  by  any  agreement  which  directs  them  to  a  com 
mon  end ;  but  the  analogy  of  their  studies  and  the  uniformity 
of  their  proceedings  connect  their  minds  together,  as  much  as 
a  common  interest  would  combine  their  endeavors. 

A  portion  of  the  tastes  and  of  the  habits  of  the  aristocracy 
may  consequently  be  discoverpd  in  the  characters  of  men  in 
the  profession  of  the  law.^They  participate  in  the  same 
instinctive  love  of  order  andoi"  formalities  ;  and  they  enter 
tain  the  same  repugnance  to  the  actions  of  the  multitude^  and 
the  same  secret  contempt  of  the  government  of  the  people^  I 
do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  natural  propensities  of  lawyers 
are  sufficiently  strong  to  sway  them  irresistibly  ;  for  they, 
like  most  other  men,  are  governed  by  their  private  interests 
and  the  advantages  of  the  moment. 

In  a  state  of  society  in  which  the  members  of  the  legal 
profession  are  prevented  from  holding  that  rank  in  the  politi 
cal  world  which  they  enjoy  in  private  life,  we  may  rest 
assured  that  they  will  be  the  foremost  agents  of  revolution. 
But  it  must  then  be  inquired  whether  the  cause  which  induces 
them  to  innovate  and  to  destroy  is  accidental,  or  whether  it 
belongs  to  some  lasting  purpose  which  they  entertain.  It  is 
true  that  lawyers  mainly  contributed  to  the  overthrow  of  the 
French  monarchy  in  1789  ;  but  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
they  acted  thus  because  they  had  studied  the  laws,  or  because 
they  were  prohibited  from  co-operating  in  the  work  of  legis 
lation. 

Five  hundred  years  ago  the  English  nobles  headed  the 
people,  and  spoke  in  its  name  ;  at  the  present  time,  the  aris 
tocracy  supports  the  throne,  and  defends  the  royal  preroga 
tive.  But  aristocracy  has,  notwithstanding  this,  its  peculiar 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    I  TITED    STATES.  277 

instincts  and  propensities.  We  must  be  careful  not  to  con 
found  isolated  members  of  a  body  with  the  body  itself.  In 
all  free  governments,  of  whatsoever  form  they  may  be,  mem 
bers  of  the  legal  profession  may  be  found  at  the  head  of  all 
parties.  The  same  remark  is  also  applicable  to  the  aristo 
cracy  ;  for  almost  all  the  democratic  convulsions  which  have 
agitated  the  world  have'  been  directed  by  nobles. 

A  privileged  body  can  never  satisfy  the  ambition  of  all  its 
members  ;  it  has  always  more  talents  and  more  passions  than 
it  can  find  places  to  content  and  to  employ  ;  so  that  a  con 
siderable  number  of  individuals  are  usually  to  be  met  with, 
who  are  inclined  to  attack  those  very  privileges,  which  they 
find  it  impossible  to  turn  to  their  own  account. 

I  do  not,  then,  assert  that  all  the  members  of  the  legal  pro\ 
fession  are  at  all  times  the  friends  of  order  and  the  opponents ) 
of  innovation,  but  merely  that  most  of  them  usually  are  so.J 
In  a  community  in  which  lawyers  are  allowed  to  occupy, 
without  opposition,  that  high  station  which  naturally  belongs 
to  them,  their  general  spirit  will  be  eminently  conservative 
and   anti-democratic.     When_an__a,ristocrac^ _exchides-_tjie 
leaders  of  that  profession^  from  its  ranks,  it  excites  enemies 
which  are  the  more  formidable  to  its  security  as  they  are  in- 
dependent  of  the  nobility  by  their  industrious  pursuits  ;  and 
they  feel  themselves  to  be  its  equal  in  point  of  intelligence, 
although  they  enjoy  less  opulence  and   less   power.      But\ 
whenever  an  aristocracy  consents  to  impart  some  of  its  privi-  j 
leges  to  these  same  individuals,  the  two  classes  coalesce  very  / 
readily,  and  assume,  as  it  were,  the  consistency  of  a  single/ 
order  of  family  interests. 

I  am,  in  like  manner,  inclined  to  believe  that  a  monarch 
will  always  be  able  to  convert  legal  practitioners  into  the 
most  serviceable  instruments  of  his  authority.  There  is  a 
far  greater  affinity  between  this  class  of  individuals  aud  .the 
executive  powey.  than  _th_ejrejs___bej;iwe_ejn^^  ; 

just  as  there  is  a  greater  natural  affinity  between  the  nobles 
and  monarch,  than  between  the  nobles  and  the  people,  although 
the  higher  orders  of  society  have  occasionally  resisted  the 
prerogative  of  the  crown  in  concert  with  the  lower  classes. 

Lawyers  are  attached  to  public  order  beyond  every  other 
consideration,  and  the  best  security  of  public  order  is  author 
ity.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  if  they  prize  the  free  in 
stitutions  of  their  country  much,  they  nevertheless  value  the 
legality  of  those  institutions  far  more-^they  are  less  afraid  of 
tyranny  than  of  arbitrary  powe^;  and  provided  that  the  legis- 


278  CAUSES    WHICH    MITIGATE    THE    TYRANNY    OF 

lature  takes  upon  itself  to  deprive  men  of  their  independence, 
they  are  not  dissatisfied,  (a) 

I  am  therefore  convinced  that  the  prince  who,  in  presence 
of  an  encroaching  democracy,  should  endeavor  to  impair  the 
judicial  authority  in  his  dominions,  and  to  diminish  the  politi 
cal  influence  of  lawyers,  would  commit  a  great  mistake.  He 
would  let  slip  the  substance  of  authority  to  grasp  at  the 
shadow.  He  would  act  more  wisely  in  introducing  men  con 
nected  with  the  law  into  the  government ;  and  if  he  intrusted 
them  with  the  conduct  of  a  despotic  power,  bearing  some 
marks  of  violence,  that  power  would  most  likely  assume  the 
external  features  of  justice  and  of  legality  in  their  hands. 

The  government  of  democracy  is  favorable  to  the  political 
power  of  lawyers  ;  for  when  the  wealthy,  the  noble,  and  the 
prince,  are  excluded  from  the  government,  they  are  sure  to 
occupy  the  highest  stations  in  their  own  right,  as  it  were, 
since  they  are  the  only  men  of  information  and  sagacity,  be 
yond  the  sphere  of  the  people,  who  can  be  the  object  of  the 
popular  choice.  If,  then,  they  are  led  by  their  tastes  to  com 
bine  with  the  aristocracy,  and  to  support  the  crown,  they  are 
naturally  brought  into  contact  with  the  people  by  their  inte 
rests.  They  like  the  government  of  democracy,  without  par 
ticipating  in  its  propensities,  and  without  imitating  its  weak 
nesses  ;  whence  they  derive  a  twofold  authority  from  it  and 
over  it.  ^The  people  in  democratic  states  does  not  mistrust 
the  members  of  the  legal  profession,  because  it  is  well  known 
that  they  are  interested  in  serving  the  popular  cause  ;  and  it 
listens  to  them  without  irritation,  because  it  does  not  attribute 
to  them  any  sinister  designs.  The  object  of  lawyers  is  not, 
indeed,  to  overthrow  the  institutions  of  democracy,  but  they 
constantly  endeavor  to  give  it  an  impulse  which  diverts  it 
from  itsreal  tendency,  by  means  which  are  foreign  to  its 
nature. \ Lawyers  belong  to  the  people  by  birth  and  interest, 
to  the  aristocracy  by  habit  and  by  taste,  and  they  may  be 
looked  upon  as  the  naturaibond  and  connecting  link  of  the 
two  great  classes  of  society^ 

The  profession  of  the  law  is  the   only  aristocratic  element 


(a)  This  translation  does  not  accurately  convey  the  meaning  of  M. 
de  Tocqueville's  expression.  He  says :  "  Us  craignent  moins  la  tyran 
nic  que  1'arbitraire,  et  pourvu  que  le  le"gislateur  se  charge  lui-meme 
d'enlever  aux  hommes  leur  inde"pendance,  ils  sont  a  peu  pres  content." 

The  more  correct  rendering  would  be  :  They  fear  tyranny  less  than 
arbitrary  sway,  and  p  ^vided  it  is  the  legislator  himself  who  under 
takes  to  deprive  men  f  their  independence,  they  are  almost  content." 
— Reviser. 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STAT1S.  279 

^vhich  can  be  .amalgamated  without  violence  with  the  natural 
elements  of  democracy,  and  which  can  be  advantageously 
and  permanently  combined  with  them."/*  I  am  not  unac 
quainted  with  the  defects  which  are  inherent  in  the  character 
of  that  body  of  men  ;  but  without  this  admixture  of  lawyer- 
like  sobriety  with  the  democratic  principle,  I  question  whether 
democratic  institutions  could  long  be  maintained  ;  and  I  can 
not  believe  that  a  republic  could  subsist  at  the  present  time, 
if  the  influence  of  lawyers  in  public  business  did  not  increase 
in  proportion  to  the  power  of  the  people. 
{  This  aristocratic  character,  which  I  hold  to  be  common  to 
me  legal  profession,  is  much  more  distinctly  marked  in  the 
United  States  and  in  England  than  in  any  other  country.  *> 
This  proceeds  not  only  from  the  legal  studies  of  the  English 
and  American  lawyers,  but  from  the  nature  of  the  legislation, 
and  the  position  which  those  persons  occupy,  in  the  two 
countries.  /Tjl0  Firgll<:ih_and  thej^mericans  have  retained 
the  law  of  precedents  j  that  is  to  say,  they  continue  to  found 
their  legal  opinionslind  the  decisions  of  thei^our!s"jjpon^tl>e' 

'  dcClSiops  ni    HlPT'f  thA&f^ora    jAn    tliP    minH  of 


an  ^iglish^^r^anAmerican  lawyer,  a  taste  and  a  reverence 
for  what  is  old  are  alrqost  always  united  to  a_]o  ve_  of  ^regular 
and  lawful  proceedings.^, 

This  predisposition  has  another  effect  upon  the  character 
of  the  legal  profession  and  upon  the  general  course  of  society. 
The  English  and  American  lawyers  investigate  what  has 
been  done  ;  the  French  advocate  inquires  what  should  have 
been  done  :  the  former  produces  precedents  ;  the  latter  rea 
sons.  A  French  observer  is  surprised  to  hear  how  often  an 
English  or  American  lawyer  quotes  the  opinions  of  others, 
and  how  little  he  alludes  to  his  own  ;  while  the  reverse  oc 
curs  in  France.  There,  the  most  trifling  litigation  is  never 
conducted  without  the  introduction  of  an  entire  system  of 
ideas  peculiar  to  the  counsel  employed  ;  and  the  fundamental 
principles  of  law  are  discussed  in  order  to  obtain  a  perch  of 
land  by  the  decision  of  the  court.  This  abnegation  of  his 
own  opinion,  and  this  implicit  deference  to  the  opinion  of  his 
forefathers,  which  are  common  to  the  English  and  American 
lawyer,  this  subjection  of  thought  which  he  is  obliged  to  pro 
fess,  necessarily  give  him  more  timid  habits  and  more  slug 
gish  inclinations  in  England  and  America  than  in  France. 

The  French  codes  are  often  difficult  of  comprehension,  but 
they  can  be  read  by  every  one  ;  nothing,  on  the  other  hand, 
can  be  more  impenetrable  to  the,  uninitiated  than  a  legisla 
tion  founded  upon  precedents.  <The  indispensable  want  of 


. 


V 


280  CAUSES   WHICH   MITIGATE    THE    TYRANNY   OF 

legal  assistance  which  is  felt  in  England  and  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  high  opinion  which  is  generally  entertained 
of  the  ability  of  the  legal  profession,  tend  to  separate  it  more 
and  more  from  the  people,  and  to  place  it  in  a  distinct  class. 
The  French  lawyer  is  simply  a  man  extensively  acquainted 
with  the  statutes  of  his  country ;  but  the  JEnglish  or  Amejju- 
can  lawyer  resembles  the  hierophants  of  Egypt,  for,  like 
them,  lie  islhe  sole  interpreter  of  an  occult  science.  / 

[The  remark  that  English  and  American  lawyers  found  their  opi 
nions  and  their  decisions  upon  those  of  their  forefathers,  is  calculated  to 
excite  surprise  in  an  American  reader,  who  supposes  that  latv,  as  a 
prescribed  Yule  of  action,  can  only  be  ascertained  in  cases  where  the 
statutes  are  silent,  by  reference  to  the  decisions  of  courts.  On  the  con 
tinent,  and  particularly  in  France,  as  the  writer  of  this  note  learned 
from  the  conversation  of  M.  De  Tocqueville,  the  judicial  tribunals  do 
not  deem  themselves  bound  by  any  precedents,  or  by  any  decisions  of 
their  predecessors  or  of  the  appellate  tribunals.  They  respect  such 
decisions  as  the  opinions  of  distinguished  men,  and  they  pay  no  higher 
regard  to  their  own  previous  adjudications  of  any  case.  It  is  not  easy 
to  perceive  how  the  law  can  acquire  any  stability  under  such  a  sys 
tem,  or  how  any  individual  can  ascertain  his  rights,  without  a  lawsuit. 
This  note  should  not  be  concluded  without  a  single  remark  upon  what 
the  author  calls  an  implicit  deference  to  the  opinions  of  our  forefathers, 
and  abnegation  of  our  own  opinions.  The  common  law  consists  of 
principles  founded  on  the  common  sense  of  mankind,  and  adapted  to 
the  circumstances  of  man  in  civilized  society.  When  these  principles 
are  once  settled  by  competent  authority,  or  rather  declared  by  such 
authority,  they  are  supposed  to  express  the  common  sense  and  the 
common  justice  of  the  community ;  and  it  requires  but  a  moderate 
share  of  modesty  for  any  one  entertaining  a  different  view  of  them,  to 
consider  that  the  disinterested  and  intelligent  judges  who  have  declared 
them,  are  more  likely  to  be  right  than  he  is.  Perfection,  even  in  the 
law,  he  does  not  consider  attainable  by  human  beings,  and  the  greatest 
approximation  to  it  is  all  he  expects  or  desires.  Besides,  there  are 
very  few  cases  of  positive  and  abstract  rule,  where  it  is  of  any  conse 
quence  which,  of  any  two  or  more  modifications  of  it,  should  be  adopt 
ed.  The  great  point  is,  that  there^  shouldjbe  .  a^ule_bj^hJ£hjS2S^j£t 
may  be  regulated.  Thus,  whether  in  mercantile  transactions  notice  of 
a  default  by  a  principal  shall  be  given  to  an  endorser,  or  a  guarantor, 
and  when  and  how  such  notice  shall  be  given,  are  not  so  important 
in  themselves,  as  it  is  that  there  should  be  -some  rule  to  which  mer 
chants  may  adapt  themselves  and  their  transactions.  <§tatutes  cannot 
or  at  least  do  not,  prescribe  the  rules  in  a  large  majority  of  cases^.  If 
then  they  are  not  drawn  from  the  decision  of  courts,  they  will  not  ex 
ist,  and  men  will  be  wholly  at  a  loss  for  a  guide  in  the  most  important 
transactions  of  business.  Hence  the  deference  paid  to  legal  decisions. 
But  this  is  not  implicit,  as  the  author  supposes.  The  course  of  rea 
soning  by  which  the  courts  have  come  to  their  conclusions,  is  often 
assailed  by  the  advocate  and  shown  to  be  fallacious,  and  the  instances 
are  not  unfrequent  of  courts  disregarding  prior  decisions  and  over 
ruling  them  when  not  fairly  deducible  from  sound  reason. 

Again,  the  principles  of  the  common  law  are  flexible,  and  adapt 
themselves  to  changes  in  society,  and  a  well-known  maxim  in  our  sys- 


THE  MAJORITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.        281 

tern,  that  when  the  reason  of  the  law  ceases,  the  law  itself  ceases,  has 
overthrown  many  an  antiquated  rule.  Within  these  limits,  it  is  con 
ceived  that  there  is  range  enough  for  the  exercise  of  all  the  reason  of 
the  advocate  and  the  judge,  without  unsettling  everything  and  depriv 
ing  the  conduct  of  human  affairs  of  all  guidance  from  human  author 
ity  ; — and  the  talent  of  our  lawyers  and  courts  finds  sufficient  exercise 
in  applying  the  principles  of  one  case  to  facts  of  another. — American 
Editor. 1 

L  The  slatioa-which  lawyers  occupy  in  England  and  Ameri 
ca  exercises  no  less  an  influence  upon  their  habits  and  their 
opinions.  The  English  aristocracy,  which  has  taken  care  to 
attract  to  its  sphere  whatever  is  at  all  analogous  to  itself,  has 
conferred  a  high  degree  of  importance  and  of  authority  upon 
the  members  of  the  legal  profession.  V  In  English  society 
lawyers  do  not  occupy  the  first  rank,  but  they  are  contented 
with  the  station  assigned  to  them  ;  they  constitute,  as  it  were, 
the  younger  branch, of  the  English  aristocracy,  and  they  are 
attached  to  their  elder  brothers,  aTtHougTT they  do  not  enjoy 
all  their  privileges.  The  English  lawyers  consequently 
mingle  the  tastes  and  the  ideas  of  the  aristocratic  circles  in 
which  they  move,  with  the  aristocratic  interest  of  their  pro- 
fession. 

And  indeed  the  lawyer-like  character  which  I  am  endea 
voring  to  depict,  is  most  distinctly  to  be  met  witQ  in  England  : 
there  laws  are  esteemed  not  so  mtich  because  they  are  good, 
as  because  they"  are  old\  and  if  it  be  necessary  to  modify 
them  "iri  any  respect,  or  to  adapt  them  to  the  changes  which 
time  operates  in  society,  recourse  is  had  to  the  most  incon 
ceivable  contrivances  in  order  to  uphold  the  traditionary 
fabric,  and  to  maintain  that  nothing  has  been  done  which 
does  not  square  with  the  intentions,  and  complete  the  labors, 
of  former  generations.  The  very  individuals  who  conduct 
these  changes  disclaim  all  intention  of  innovation,  and  they 
had  rather  resort  to  absurd  expedients  than  plead  guilty  of  so 
great  a  crime.  This  spirit  more  especially  appertains  to  the 
English  lawyers ;  they  seem  indifferent  to  the  real  meaning 
of  what  they  treat,  and  they  direct  all  their  attention  to  the 
letter,  seeming  inclined  to  infringe  the  rules  of  common  sense 
and  of  humanity,  rather  than  to  swerve  one  tittle  from  the 
law.  The  English  legislation  may  be  compared  to  the  stock 
of  an  old  tree,  upon  which  lawyers  have  engrafted  the  most 
various  shoots,  with  the  hope,  that,  although  their  fruits  may 
differ,  their  foliage  at  least  will  be  confounded  with  the  ven 
erable  trunk  which  supports  them  all. 

/     In  America  there  are  no  nobles  or  literary  men,  and  the 
people  is  apt  to  mistrust  the  wealthy  ;  lawyers  consequently 
25* 


282         ;,      CAUSES   WHICH    MITIGATE    THE    TYRANNY    OF 

form  the  highest  political  class,  and  the  most  cultivated  circle 
of  society.  \£hey  have  therefore" notRing  to  gain  by  innova 
tion,  which  adds  a  conservative  interest  to  their  natural  taste, 
for  public  order.  If  I  we're  asked  where  I  place  the  Ameri 
can  aristocracy,  I  should  reply  without  hesitation,  that  it  is 
not  composed  of  the  rich,  who  are  united  together  by  no  com 
mon,  tie,  but  that  it  occupies  the  judicial  bench  and  the  bar. 

//The  more  we  reflect  upon  all  that  occursijn  the  United 
Statesjthe  more  shall  we  be  persuaded  that  the/lawyers,  as 
a  body,  form  the  most  powerful,  if  not  the  only  counterpoise 

.to  the  democratic  element.  In  that  country  we  perceive  how 
eminently  the  legal  profession  is  qualified  by  its  powers,  ana 
even  by  its  defects,  to  neutralize  the  vices  which  are  in 
herent  in  popular  government.  When  the  American  people 
fcd-kyTrassion,  or  carried  away  by  the  impetuosity 


of  its  ideas,  it  is  checked  and  stopped  by  the  almost  invisible 
influence  of  its  legal  counsellors,^who  secretly  oppose  their 
aristocratic  propensities  to  its  democratic  instincts,  their  su 
perstitious  attachment  to  what  is  antique  to  its  love  of  novel 
ty,  their  narrow  views  to  its  immense  designs,  and  their  ha 
bitual  procrastination  to  its  ardent  impatience. 
/  (/The  courts  of  justice  are  the  most  visible  organs  by  which 
i  the  legal  profession  is  enabled  to  control  the  democracy.  The 
^•fudge  is  a  lawyer,  who,  independently  of  the  taste  for  regu 
larity  and  order  which  he  has  contracted  in  the  study  of 
legislation,  derives  an  additional  love  of  stability  from  his 
own  inalienable  functions. )  His  legal  attainments  have  al 
ready  raised  him  to  a  distinguished  rank  among  his  fellow- 
citizens  ;  his  political  power  completes  the  distinction  of  his 
station,  and  gives  him  the  inclinations  natural  to  privileged 

NArmed  with  the  power  of  declaring  the  laws  to  be  uncon 
stitutional,*  the  American  magistrate  perpetually  interferes 
in  political  affairs.  He  cannot  force  the  people  to  make  laws, 
but  at  least  be  can  oblige  it  not  to  disobey  its  tnyn  enactments. 
Wto  act  inconsistently  with  its  own  principles./  I  am  aware 
that  a  secret  tendency  to  diminish  the  judicial  power  exists 
in  the  United  States  ;  and  by  most  of  the  constitutions  of  the 
several  states,  the  government  can,  upon  the  demand  of  the 
two  houses  of  the  legislature,  remove  the  judges  from  their 
station.  By  some  other  constitutions  the  members  of  the 
tribunals  are  elected,  and  they  are  even  subjected  to  frequent 

*  See  chapter  vi.,  p.  94,  on  the  judicial  power  in  the  United 
Stites. 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  283 

re-elections.  I  venture  to  predict  that  these  innovations 
will  sooner  or  later  be  attended  with  fatal  consequences ;  and 
that  it  will  be  found  out  at  some  future  period,  that  tfee  at- 
tack  which  is_made  upon  the  jujdi»2ialj^ojvfix^.lias  j&iitedJJie 
democratic  republic  itsull'. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  the  legal  spirit  of 
which  I  have  been  speaking  has  been  confined  in  the  United 
States  to  the  courts  of  justice ;  it  extends  far  beyond  them. 
/As  the  lawyers  constitute  the  only  enlightened  class  which 
^the  people  does  not  mistrust,  they  are  naturally  called  upon  to 
occupy  most  of  the  public  stations.  They  fill  the  legislative 
assemblies,  and  they  conduct  the  administration  ;  they  con 
sequently  exercise  a, powerful  influence  upon  the  formation 
of  the  law,  and  upon  its  execution.  The  lawyers  are,  how 
ever,  obliged  to  yield  to  tKe  current  of  public  opinion,  which 
is  too  strong  for  them  to  resist  it  :,but  it  is  easy  to  find  indi 
cations  of  what  their  conduct  would  be,  if  they  were  free  to 
act  as  they  chose.  The  Americans  who  have  made  such 
copious  innovations  in  their  political  legislation,  have  intro- 
duced  very  sparing  alterations  in  their  civil  laws,  and  that 
with  great  difficulty,  although  those  laws  are  frequently  re- 
ipugnant  to  their  social  condition.  The  reason  of  this  is,  that 
<Jn  matters  of  civil  law  the  majority  is  obliged  to  defer  to  the 
authority  of  the  legal  profession,  and  that  the  American  law 
yers  are  disinclined  to  innovate  when  they  are  left  to  their 
own  choice>> 

It  is  curious  for  a  Frenchman,  accustomed  to  a  very  dif 
ferent  state  of  things,  to  hear  the  perpetual  complaints  which 
are  made  in  the  United  States,  against  the  stationary  propen 
sities  of  legal  men,  and  their  prejudices  in  favor  of  existing 
institutions. 

The  influence  of  the  legal  habits  which  are  common  in 
America  extends  beyond  the  limits  I  have  just  pointed  out. 
,/ Scarcely  any  question  arises  in  the  United  States  which  does 
not  become,  sooner  or  later,  a  subject  of  judicial  debate; 
hence  all  parties  are  obliged  to  borrow  the  ideas,  and  even 
the  language,  usual  in  judicial  proceedings,  in  their  daily 
controversies.  As  most  public  men  are,  or  have  been,  legal 
practitioners,  they  introduce  the  customs  and  technicalities 
of  their  profession  into  the  affairs  of  ^he  country.  The  jury 
extends  this  habitude  to  all  classes./  The  language  of  the 
law  thus  becomes,  in  some  measure,  a  vulgar  tongue  ;  the 
spirit  of  the  law,  which  is  produced  in  the  schools  and  courts 
of  justice,  gradually  penetrates  beyond  their  walls  into  the 
bosom  of  society,  where  it  descends  to  the  lowest  classes,  so 


284  CAUSES   WHICH    MITIGATE    THE    TYRANNY    OF 

that  the  whole  people  contracts  the  habits  and  the  tastes  of 
the  magistrate.  (The  lawyers  of  the  United  States  form  a 
party  which  is  but  little  feared  and  scarcely  perceived,  which 
has  no  badge  peculiar  to  itself,  which  adapts  itself  with  great 
flexibility  to  the  exigencies  of  the  time,  and  accommodates 
itself  to  all  the  movements  of  the  social  body :  but  this  party 
extends  over  the  whole  community,  and  it  penetrates  into  all 
classes  of  society ;  it  acts  upon  the  country  imperceptibly, 
but  it  finally  fashions  it  to  suit  its  purposes./ 


TRIAL   BY   JURY   IN   THE   UNITED    STATES   CONSIDERED   AS   A 
POLITICAL   INSTITUTION. 

Trial  by  Jury,  which  is  one  of  the  Instruments  of  the  Sovereignty  of 
the  People,  deserves  to  be  compared  with  the  other  Laws  which 
establish  that  sovereignty. — Composition  of  the  Jury  in  the  United 
States. — Effect  of  Trial  by  Jury  upon  the  national  Character. — It 
educates  the  People. — It  tends  to  establish  the  Authority  of  the  Ma 
gistrates,  and  to  extend  a  knowledge  of  Law  among  the  People. 

SINCE  I  have  been  led  by  my  subject  to  recur  to  the  adminis 
tration  of  justice  in  the  United  $tates,  I  will  not  pass  over 
this  point  without  adverting  to^the  institution  of  the  jury. 
Trial  by  jury  may  be  considered  in  two  separate  points  of 
view :  as  a  judicial,  and  as  a  political  institution."/  If  it  en 
tered  into  my  present  purpose  to  inquire  how  far  trial  by  jury 
(more  especially  in  civil  cases)  contributes  to  ensure  the  best 
administration  of  justice,  I  admit  that  its  utility  might  be 
contested.  As  the  jury  was  first  introduced  at  a  time  when 
society  was  in  an  uncivilized  state,  and  when  courts  of  jus 
tice  were  merely  called  upon  to  decide  on  the  evidence  of 
facts,  it  is  not  an  easy  task  to  adapt  it  to  the  wants  of  a 
highly  civilized  community,  when  the  mutual  relations  of  men 
are  multiplied  to  a  surprising  extent,  and  have  assumed  the 
enlightened  and  intellectual  character  of  the  age.* 

*  The  investigation  of  trial  by  jury  as  a  judicial  institution,  and  the 
appreciation  of  its  effects  in  the  United  States,  together  with  the  ad 
vantages  the  Americans  have  derived  from  it,  would  suffice  to  form  a 
book,  and  a  book  upon  a  very  useful  and  curious  subject.  The  state  of 
Louisiana  would  in  particular  afford  the  curious  phenomenon  of  a 
French  and  English  legislation,  as  well  as  a  French  and  English 
population,  which  are  generally  combining  with  each  other.  See  the 
"  Digeste  des  Lois  de  la  Louisiane,"  in  two  volumes  ;  and  the  "  Traite 
sur  les  Regies  des  Actions  civiles,"  printed  in  French  and  English  at 
New  Orleans  in  1830. 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  285 

,/My  present  object  is  to  consider  the  jury  as  a  polhical  in 
stitution  ;  -and  any  other  course  would  divert  me  from  my 
subject.  Of  trial  by  jury,  considered  as  a  judicial  institution. 
I  shall  here  say  but  very  few  words.  When  the  English 
adopted  trial  by  jury  they  were  a  semi-barbarous  people  ; 
they  are  become,  in  course  of  time,  one  of  the  most  enlightened 
nations  of  the  earth ;  and  their  attachment  to  this  institution 
seems  to  have  increased  with  their  increasing  cultivation. 
They  soon  spread  beyond  their  insular  boundaries  to  every 
corner  of  the  habitable  globe  ;  some  have  formed  colonies, 
others  independent  states  ;  the  mother-country  has  maintained 
its  monarchical  constitution ;  many  of  its  offspring  have 
founded  powerful  republics ;  but  wherever  the  English  have 
been/  they  have  boasted  of  the  privilege  of  trial  by  jury.* 
They  have  established  it,  or  hastened  to  re-establish  it,  in  all 
their  settlements.  A  Judicial  institution  which  obtains  the 
suffrages  of  a  great  people  for  so  long  a  series  of  ages,  which 
is  zealously  renewed  at  every  epoch  of  civilisation,  in  all  the 
climates  of  the  earth,  and  under  every  form  of  human 
government,  cannot  be  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  justice,  f 

*  All  the  English  and  American  jurists  are  unanimous  upon  this 
head.  Mr.  Story,  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States, 
speaks,  in  his  treatise  on  the  federal  constitution,  of  the  advantages  of 
trial  by  jury  in  civil  cases :  "  The  inestimable  privilege  of  a  trial  by 
jury  in  civil  cases — a  privilege  scarcely  inferior  to  that  in  criminal 
cases,  which  is  counted  by  all  persons  to  be  essential  to  political  and 
civil  liberty" (Story,  book  iii.,  ch.  xxxviii.) 

f  If  it  were  our  province  to  point  out  the  utility  of  the  jury  as  a 
judicial  institution  in  this  place,  much  might  be  said,  and  the  follow 
ing  arguments  might  be  brought  forward  among  others  : — 

By  introducing  the  jury  into  the  business  of  the  courts,  you  are  ena 
bled  to  diminigh  the  number  of  judges  ;  which  is  a  very  great  advan 
tage.  When  judges  are  very  numerous,  death  is  perpetually  thinning 
the  ranks  of  the  judicial  functionaries,  and  laying  places  vacant  for  new 
comers.  The  ambition  of  the  magistrates  is  therefore  continually  ex 
cited,  and  they  are  naturally  made  dependant  upon  the  will  of  the  ma 
jority,  or  the  individual  who  fills  up  vacant  appointments  :  the  officers 
of  the  courts  then  rise  like  the  officers  of  an  army.  This  state  of  things 
is  entirely  contrary  to  the  s^und  administration  of  justice,  and  to  the  in 
tentions  of  the  legislator.  ^The  office  of  a  judge  is  made  inalienable  in 
order  that  he  may  remain  independent ;  but  of  what  advantage  is  it  that 
his  independence  is  protected,  if  he  be  tempted  to  sacrifice  it  of  his 
own  accord  £>•  When  judges  are  very  numerous,  many  of  them  must 
necessarily  be  incapable  of  performing  their  important  duties  ;  for  a 
great  magistrate  is  a  man  of  no  common  powers :  and  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  that  a  half  enlightened  tribunal  is  the«prst  of  all  instruments 
for  obtaining  those  objects  which  it  is  the  purpose  of  courts  of  justice 
to  accomplish.  For  my  own  part,  I  had  rather  submit  the  decision  of 
a  case  to  ignorant  jurors  directed  by  a  skilful  judge,  than  to  judges,  a 


285  CAUSES   WHICH    MITIGATE    THE    TYRANNY    OF 

I  turn,  however,  from  this  part  of  the  subject.  (  To  look 
upon  the  jury  as  a  mere  judicial  institution,  is  to  confine  our 
attention  to  a  very  narrow  view  of  it ;  for,  however  great  its 
influence  may  be  upon  the  decisions  of  the  law-courts,  that 
influence  is  very  subordinate  to  the  powerful  effects  which  it 
produces  on  the  destinies  of  the  community  at  large.  The 
jury  is  above  all  a  political  institution,  and  it  must  In;  regarded 
in  this  light  in  order  to  be  duly  appreciated. 

By  the  jury,  I  mean  a  certain  number  of  citizens  chosen 
indiscriminately,  and  invested  with  a  temporary  right  of  judg 
ing.  Trial  by  jury,  as  applied  to  the  repression  of  crime, 
appears  to  me  to  introduce  an  eminently  republican  element 
into  the  government, ,  upon  the  following  grounds  : — 
(JThe  institution  of  the  jury  may  be  aristocratic  or  demo 
cratic,  according  to  the  class  of  society  from  which  the  jurors 
are  selected  ;  but  it  always  preserves  its  republican  chani'-. 
ter,  inasmuch  as  it  places  the  real  direction  of  society  in  the 
hands  of  the  governed,  or  of  a  portion  of  the  governed,  instead 
of  leaving  it  under  the  authority  of  the  government.  Force 
is  never  more  than  a  transient  element  of  success ;  and 
after  force  comes  the  notion  of  right.  A  government  which 
should  only  be  able  to  crush  its  enemies  upon  a  field  of  battle, 
would  very  soon  be  destroyed.  The  true  sanction  of  political 
laws  is  to  be  found  in  penal  legislation,  and  if  that  sanction 
be  wanting,  the  law  will  sooner  or  later  lose  its  cogency.  He 
who  punishes  infractions  of  the  law  is  therefore  the  real  mas 
ter  of  society.  /Now,  the  institution  of  the  jury  raises  the 
people  itself,  or  at,least  a  class  of  citizens,  to  the  bench  of  ju 
dicial  authority.  The  institution  of  the  jury  consequently 
invests  the  people,  or  that  class  of  citizens,  with  the  direction 
olf  society..* 

majority  of  whom  are  imperfectly  acquainted  with  jurisprudence  and 
with  the  laws.  «* 

[I  venture  to  remind  the  reader,  lest  this  note  should  appear  some 
what  redundant  to  an  English  eye,  that  the  jury  is  an  institution  which 
has  only  been  naturalized  in  France  within  the  present  century  ;  that 
it  is  even  now  exclusively  applied  to  those  criminal  causes  which  come 
before  the  courts  of  assize,  or  to  the  prosecutions  of  the  public  press; 
and  that  the  judges  and  counsellors  of  the  numerous  local  tribunals  of 
France — forming  a  body  of  many  thousand  judicial  functionaries — try 
all  civil  causes,  appeals  from  criminal  causes,  and  minor  offences, 
without  the  jury.—  Translator's  Note.] 

*  An  important  remark  must  however  be  made.  Trial  by  jury  does 
unquestionably  invest  nie  people  with  a  general  control  over  the  actions 
of  citizens,  but  it  does  not  furnish  means  of  exercising  this  control  in 
all  cases,  or  with  an  absolute  authority.  When  an  absolute  monarch 
has  the  right  of  trying  offences  by  his  representatives,  the  fate  of  the 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  237 

•  In  England  the  jury  is  returned  from  the  aristocratic  por 
tion  of  the  nation,*  the  aristocracy  makes  the  laws,  applies  the 
laws,  and  punishes  all  infractions  of  the  laws  ;  everything  is 
established  upon  a  consistent  footing,  and  England  may  with 
truth  be  said  to  constitute  an  aristocratic  republic^  In  the 
United  States  the  same  system  is  applied  to  the  whole  people. 
Every  American  citizen  is  qualified  to  be  an  elector,  a  juror, 
and  is  eligible  to  office. f  The  system  of  the  jury,  as  it  is 
understood  in  America,  appears  to  me  to  be  as  direct  and  as 
extreme  a  consequence  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  as 
universal  suffrage.  These  institutions  are  two  instruments 
of  equal  power,  which  contribute  To  tin-  supremacy  of  tin- 
majority.  /  All  the  sovereigns  who  have  chosen  to  govern  by 
their  own  authority,  and  to  direct  society  instead  of  obeying 
its  direction,  have  destroyed  or  enfeebled  the  institution  of  the 
jury.  The  monarchs  of  the  house  of  Tudor  sent  to  prison 
jurors  who  refused  to  convict,  and  Napoleon  caused  them  to 
be  returned  by  his  agents. 

However  clear  most  of  these  U'uths  may  seem  to  be,  they 
do  not  command  universal  assent,  and  in  France,  at  least,  the 
institution  of  trial  by  jury  is  still  very  imperfectly  understood. 
If  the  question  arise  as  to  the  proper  qualification  of  jurors,  it 
is  confined  to  a  discussion  of  the  intelligence  and  knowledge 
of  the  citizens  who  may  be  returned,  as  if  the  jury  was 
merely  a  judicial  institution.  This  appears  to  me  to  be  the 
least  part  of  the  subject.  /The  jury  is  pre-eminently  a  politi 
cal  institution  ;  it  must  be  regarded  as  one  form  of  the  sove 
reignty  of  the  people ;  when  that  sovereignty  is  repudiated, 
it: must  be  rejected\  or  it  must  be  adapted  to  the  laws  by 

prisoner  is,  as  it  were,  decided  beforehand.  But  even  if  the  people 
were  predisposed  to  convict,  the  composition  and  the  non-responsibility 
of  the  jury  would  still  afford  some  chances  favorable  to  the  protection 
of  innocence. 

*  [In  France,  the  qualification  of  the  jurors  is  the  same  as  the  elec 
toral  qualification,  namely,  the  payment  of  200  francs  per  annum  in 
direct  taxes :  they  are  chosen  by  lot.  In  England  they  are  returned  by 
the  sheriff;  the  qualifications  of  jurors  were  raised  to  101.  per  annum 
in  England,  and  Ql.  in  Wales,  of  freehold  land  or  copyhold,  by  the 
statute  W.  and  M.,  c.  24  :  leaseholders  for  a  time  determinate  upon 
life  or  lives,  of  the  clear  yearly  value  of  2U/.  per  annum  over  and  above 
the  rent  reserved,  are  qualified  to  serve  on  juries ;  and  jurors  in  the 
courts  of  Westminster  and  city  of  London  must  be  householders,  and 
possessed  of  real  and  personal  estates  of  the  value  of  tOO/.  The  quali 
fications,  however,  prescribed  in  different  statutes,  vary  according  to 
the  object  for  which  the  jury  is  impannelled.  See  Blackstone's  Com 
mentaries,  b.  iii.,  c.  23. — Translator's  Note.] 

f  See  Appendix  Q. 


288  CAUSES    WHICH   MITIGATE    THE    TYRANNY   OF 

which  that  sovereignty  is  established.  The  jury  is  that  poi 
tion  of  the  nation  to  which  the  execution  of  the  laws  is 
intrusted,  as  the  houses  of  parliament  constitute  that  part  of 
the  nation  which  makes  the  laws ;  and  in  order  that  society 
may  >be  governed  with  consistency  and  uniformity,  the  list  of 
citizens  qualified  to  serve  on  juries  must  increase  and  diminish 
with  the  list  of  electors.^  This  I  hold  to  be  the  point  of  view 
most  worthy  of  the  attention  of  the  legislator ;  and  all  that 
remains  is  merely  accessary. 

I  am  so  entirely  convinced  that  the  jury  is  pre-eminently  a 
political  institution,  that  I  still  consider  it  in  this  light  when  it 
is  applied  in  civil  causes.  Laws  are  always  unstable  unless 
they  are  founded  upon  the  manners  of  a  nation  :  manners  tije 
the  only  durable  and  resisting  power  in  a  people.  When  the 
jury  is  reserved  for  criminal  offences,  the  people  only  sees  its 
occasional  action  in  certain  particular  cases ;  the  ordinary 
course  of  life  goes  on  without  its  interference,  and  it  is  con 
sidered  as  an  instrument,  but  not  as  the  only  instrument,  of 
obtaining  justice. "^This  is  true  a,  fortiori  when  the  jury  is  only 
applied  tocertain  criminal  causes. 

When,  on  the  contrary,  the  influence  of  the  jury  is  extend 
ed  to  civil  causes,  its  application  is  constantly  palpable ;  it 
affects  all  the  interests  of  the  community  ;  every  one  co-ope 
rates  in  its  work  :  it  thus  penetrates  into  all  the  usages  of  life, 
it  fashions  the  human  mind  to  its  peculiar  forms,  and  is  gradu 
ally  ^associated  with  the_ijdea_oXjustice_  itself. 

The  institution  of  the  jury,  if  confined  to  criminal  causes, 
is  always  in  danger ;  but  when  once  it  is  introduced  into  civil 
proceedings,  it  defies  the  aggressions  of  time  and  of  man^  If 
it  had  been  as  easy  to  remove  the  jury  from  the  manners  as 
from  the  laws  of  England,  it  would  have  perished  under 
Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth ;  and  the  civil  jury  did  in  reality, 
at  that  period,  save  the  liberties  of  the  country./  In  whatever 
manner  the  jury  be  applied,  it  cannot  fail  to  exercise  a  power 
ful  influence  upon  the  national  character  ;  but  this  influence 
is  prodigiously  increased  when  it  is  introduced  into  civil 
cjcit£fi£»  The  jury,  and  more  especially  the  civil  jury,  serves 
to  communicate  the  spirit  of  the  judges,  to  the  minds  of  all 
the  citizens ;  and  this  spirit,  with  the  habits  which  attend  it, 
is  the  soundest  preparation  for  free  institutions.  It  imbues  all 
classes  with  a  respect  for  the  thing  judged,  and  with  the  no 
tion  of  right.  If  these  two  elements  be  removed,  the  love  of 
independence  is  reduced  to  a  mere  destructive  passion.  It 
teaches  men  to  practise  equity  ;  every  man  learns  to  judge 
his  neighbor  as  he  would  himself  be  judged  :  and  this  is  espe- 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  289 

cially  true  of  the  jury  in  civil  causes  ;  for,  while  the  number 
of  persons  who  have  reason  to  apprehend  a  criminal  prosecu 
tion  is  small,  every  one  is  liable  to  have  a  civil  action  brought 
against  him.  The  jury  teaches  every  man  not  to  recoil  be 
fore  the  responsibility  of  his  own  actions,  and  impresses  him 
with  that  manly  confidence  without  which  political  virtue 
cannot  exist.  It  invests  each  citizen  with  a  kind  of  magis 
tracy  ;  it  makes  them  all  feel  the  duties  which  they  are  bound 
to  discharge  t< muni  society;  and  tin-  part  which  they  take 
in  the  government.  By  obliging  men  to  turn  their  attention 
to  affairs  which  are  not  exclusively  their  own,  it  rubs  off  that 
individual  egotism  which  is  the  rust  of  society?^ 
is^The  j uryj contributes  most  powerfully  to  form  the  judg- 
menl~aiKl  to  increase  the  natural  intelligence  of  a,  .people  ; 
and  this  is,  in  my  opinion,  its  greatest  advantage.  It  may  be 
regarded  as  a  gratuitous  public  school  t^er  open,  in  which 
every  juror  learns  to  exercise  his  rights,  enters  into  daily 
communication  with  the  most  learned  and  enlightened  mem 
bers  of  the  upper  classes,  and  becomes  practically  acquainted 
with  the  laws  of  his  country,  which  are  brought  within  the 
reach  of  his  capacity  by  the  efforts  of  the  bar,  the  advice  of 
the  judge,  and  even  by  the  passions  of  the  parties.  I  think 
that  the  practical  intelligence  and  political  good  sense  of  the 
Americans  are  mainly  attributable  to  the  long  use  which  they 
have  made  of  the  jury  in  civjLcausesJ* 

I  do  not  know  whether  the; jury,  is  useful  to  those  who  are 
in  litigation  ;  but  I  am  certain  it  is  highly  beneficial  to  those 
who  decide  the  litigation  :  and  I  look  upon  it  as/ one  of  ttie 
m.Q§tefficacious  means  for  the  education  of  the  people,  whiph 
s-i.-idy  can  employ. 

What  I  have  hitherto  said,  applies  to  all  nations ;  but  the 
remark  I  am  now  about  to  make,  is  peculiar  to  the  Americans 
and  to  democratic  peoples.  <;!  have  already  observed  that  in 
democracies  the  members  of  the  legal  profession,  and  the  ma 
gistrates,  constitute  the  only  aristocratic  body  which  can  check 
the  irregularities  of  the  people.  This  aristocracy  is  invested 
with  no  physical,  power  ;  but  it  exercises  its  conservatjvejn- 
flueuce  upon  the  minds  ofjpen :  and  the  most  abundant 
source  of  its  authority  is  the  institution  of  the  civil  jury.  In 
criminal  causes,  when  society  is  armed  against  a  single  indi 
vidual,  the  jury  is  apt  to  look  upon  the  judge  as  the  passive 
instrument  of  social  power,  and  to  mistrust  his  advice./* 
Moreover,  criminal  causes  are  entirely  founded  upon  the  evi 
dence  of  facts  which  common  sense  can  readily  appreciate  ; 
upon  this  ground  the  judge  and  the  jury  are  equal.  /  Such, 
19 


200  CAUSES    WHICH    MITIGATE    THE 'TYRANNY    OF 

however,  is  not  the  case  in  civil  causes;  then  the  judge  ap 
pears  as  a  disinterested  arbiter  between  the  conflicting  pas 
sions  of  the  parties.  -  The  jurors  look  up  to  him  with  confi 
dence,  and  listen  to  him  with  respect,  for  in  this  instance  their 
intelligence  is  completely  under  the  control  of  his  learning.' 
It  is  the  judge  who  sums  up  the  various  arguments  with 
which  their  memory  has  been  wearied  out,  and  who  guides 
them  through  the  devious  course  of  the  proceedings ;  he 
points  'their  attention  to  the  exact  question  of  fact,  which  they 
are  called  upon  to  solve,  and  he  puts  the  answer  to  the  ques 
tion  of  law- into  their  mouths.  His  influence  .upon  their  ver- 
dict  is  almost  unlimited. 

If  I  am  called  upon  to  explain  why  I  am  but  little  moved 
by  the  arguments  derived  from  the  ignorance  of  jurors  in  civil 
causes,  I  reply,  that  in  these  proceedings,  whenever  the  ques 
tion  to  be  solved  is  not  a  mere  question  of  fact,  the  jury  has 
only  the  semblance  of  a  judicial  body.  /The  jury  sanctions 
the  decisions  of  the  judge  ;  they,  by  the  authority  of  society 
which  they  represent,  and  he,  by  that  of  reason  and  of  law  X* 
C  In  England  and  in  America  the  judges  exercise  an  influ 
ence  upon  criminal  trials  which  the  French  judges  have  ne 
ver  possessed.  The  reason  of  this  difference  may  easMy  be 
discovered  ;  the  English  and  American  magistrates  establish 
their  authority  in  civil  causes,  and  only  transfer  it  afterward 
to  tribunals  of  another  kind,  where  that  authority  was  not  ac 
quired.^  In  some  cases  (and  they  are  frequently  the  most  im 
portant  ones),  the  American  judges  have  the  right  of  deciding 
causes  alone. f  Upon  these  occasions  they  are,  accidentally, 
placed  in  the  position  which  the  French  judges  habitually 
occupy  :  but  they  are  still  surrounded  by  the  reminiscence  of 
the  jury,  and  their  judgment  has  almost  as  much  authority 
as  the  voice  of  the  community  at  large,  represented  by  that 
institution.,-:  Their  influence  extends  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
courts ;  in  the  recreations  of  private  life,  as  well  as  in  the 
turmoil  of  public  business,  abroad  and  in  the  legislative  as 
semblies,  the  American  judge  is  constantly  surrounded  lu 
men  who  are  accustomed  to  regard  his  intelligence  as  supe 
rior  to  their  own  ;  and  after  having  exercised  his  power  in 
the  decision  of  causes,  he  continues  to  influence  the  habits  of 
thought,  and  the  character  of  the  individuals  who  took  a  part 
in  his  judgment.^ 

*  See  Appendix  R. 

f  The  federal  judges  decide  upon  their  own  authority  almost  all  the 
questions  most  important  to  the  country. 


THE    MAJORITY    IN    THE    U.VITED    STATES.  291 

[The  remark  in  the  text,  that  "  in  some  cases,  and  they  are  frequent 
ly  the  most  important  ones,  the  American  judges  have  the  right  of  de 
ciding  causes  alone,"  and  the  author's  note,  that  "  the  federal  judges  de 
cide,  upon  their  own  authority,  almost  all  the  questions  most  import 
ant  to  the  country,"  seem  to  require  explanation  in  consequence  of 
their  connexion  with  the  context  in  which  the  author  is  speaking  of 
the  trial  by  jury.  They  seem  to  imply  that  there  are  some  cases  which 
au£h.Lla  be  tried  by  jury,  that  are  decided  by  trie judges.  It  is  believed 
that  the  learned  author,  although  a  distinguished  advocate  in  France, 
jieyer  thoroughly  comprehended  the  grand  divisions  of  our  complicated 
system  of  law,  in  civil  cases.  First,  is  the  distinction  between  cases 
in  equity  and  those  in  which  the  rules  of  the  common  law  govern. — 
Those  in  equity  are  always  decided  by  the  judge  or  judges,  who  may, 
however,  send  questions  of  fact  to  be  tried  in  the  common  law  courts 
by  a  jury.  But  as  a  general  rule  this  is  entirely  in  the  discretion  of 
the  equity  judge.  Second,  in  cases  at  common  law,  there  are  ques 
tions  of  fact  and  questions  of  law  : — the  former  are  invariably  tried  bv 
a  jury,  the  latter,  whether  presented  in  the  course  of  a  jury  trial,  or 
by  pleading,  in  which  the  facts  are  admitted,  are  always  decided  by 
the  judges. 

Third,  cases  of  admiralty  jurisdiction,  and  proceedings  in  rem  of  an 
analogous  nature,  are  decided  by  the  judges  without  the  intervention 
of  a  jury.  The  cases  in  this  last  class  fall  within  the  peculiar  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  federal  courts,  and,  with  this  exception,  the  federal  judges 
do  not  decide  upon  their  own  authority  any  questions,  which,  if  pre 
sented  in  the  state  courts,  would  not  also  be  decided  by  the  judges  of 
those  courts.  The  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  from  the  na 
ture  of  its  institution  as  almost  wholly  an  appellant  court,  is  called  on 
to  decide  merely  questions  of  law,  and  in  no  case  can  that  court  decide 
a  question  of  fact,  unless  it  arises  in  suits  peculiar  to  equity  or  admi 
ralty  jurisdiction.  Indeed  the  author's  original  note  is  more  correct 
than  the  translation.  It  is  as  follows  :  "  Les  juges  federaux  tranchent 
presque  toujours  seuls  les  questions  qui  touchent  de  plus  pres  au  gou- 
vernement  du  pays."  And  it  is  very  true  that  the  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States,  in  particular,  decides  those  questions  which  most  nearly 
affect  the  government  of  the  country,  because  those  are  the  very  ques 
tions  which  arise  upon  the  constitutionality  of  the  laws  of  congress 
and  of  the  several  states,  the  final  and  conclusive  determination  of 
which  is  vested  in  that  tribunal. — American  Editor.] 

j^The  jury,  then,  which  seem^o_restrict  the  rights  o£jnagis- 
tracy^aoes  in  reality  consfdirifttft  ***  pnwpt' '  and  in  no  coim- 

try  are  the  judges  so  powerful  as  there  where  the  people  par- 
takes  their •  privileges^  It  is  more  especially  by  means  of  the 
jury  in  civil  causes  that  the  American  magistrates  imbue  all 
classes  of  society  with  the  spirit  of  their  profession.  Thus 
the  jury,  which  is  the  most  energetic  means  of  making  the 
people  rule,  is  also  the  most  efficacious  means  of  teaching  it 
to  rule  welK 


292  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PRINCIPAL    CAUSES   WHICH   TEND   TO    MAINTAIN    THE    DEMOCRA 
TIC    REPUBLIC    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

A  DEMOCRATIC  republic  subsists  in  the  United  States ;  and 
the  principal  object  of  this  book  has  been  to  account  for  the 
fact  of  its  existence.  Several  of  the  causes  which  contribute 
to  maintain  the  institutions  of  America  have  been  voluntarily 
passed  by,  or-  only  hinted  at,  as  I  was  borne  along  by  my 
subject.  Others  I  have  been  unable  to  discuss  ;  and  those 
on  which  I  have  dwelt  most,  are,  as  it  were,  buried  in  the 
details  of  the  former  part  of  this  work. 

I  think,  therefore,  that  before  I  proceed  to  speak  of  the 
future,  I  cannot  do  better  than  collect  within  a  small  com 
pass  the  reasons  which  best  explain  the  present.  In  this 
retrospective  chapter  I  shall  be  succinct ;  for  I  shall  take 
care  to  remind  the  reader  very  summarily  of  what  he  already 
knows ;  and  I  shall  only  select  the  most  prominent  of  those 
facts  which  I  have  not  yet  pointed  out. 

All  the  causes  which  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
democratic  republic  in  the  United  States  are  reducible  to 
three  heads : 

I.  The  peculiar  and  accidental  situation  in  which  Provi 
dence  has  placed  the  Americans. 

II.  The  laws. 

III.  The  manners  and  customs  of  the  people. 


ACCIDENTAL  OR  PROVIDENTIAL  CAUSES  WHICH  CONTRIBUTE  TO 
THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  REPUBLIC  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

The  Union  has  no  Neighbors. — No  Metropolis. — The  Americans  have 
had  the  Chances  of  Birth  in  their  favor. — America  an  empty  coun 
try.— How  this  circumstance  contributes  powerfully  to  the  Mainte 
nance  of  the  democratic  Republic  in  America. — How  the  American 
Wilds  are  Peopled. — Avidity  of  the  Anglo-Americans  in  taking  Pos 
session  of  the  Solitudes  of  the  New  World. — Influence  of  physical 
Prosperity  upon  the  political  Opinions  of  the  Americans. 

A  THOUSAND  circumstances,  independent  of  the  will  of  man, 
concur  to  facilitate  the  maintenance  of  a  democratic  republic 
in  the  United  States.  Some  of  these  peculiarities  are  known, 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  293 

the  others  may  easily  be  pointed  out ;  but  I  shall  confine 
myself  to  the  most  prominent  among  them. 

The  Americans  have  no  neighbors,  and  consequently  they 
have  no  great  wars,  or  financial  crises,  or  inroads,  or  con 
quests  to  dread ;  they  require  neither  great  taxes,  nor  great 
armies,  nor  great  generals ;  and  they  have  nothing  to  fear 
from  a  scourge  which  is  more  formidable  to  republics  than 
all  these  evils  combined,  namely,  military  glory.  It  is  im 
possible  to  deny  the  inconceivable  influence  which  military 
glory  exercises  upon  the  spirit  of  a  nation.  General  Jack 
son,  whom  the  Americans  have  twice  elected  to  be  the  head 
of  their  government,  is  a  man  of  violent  temper  and  mediocre 
talents ;  no  one  circumstance  in  the  whole  course  of  his  ca 
reer  ever  proved  that  he  is  qualified  to  govern  a  free  people  ; 
and  indeed  the  majority  of  the  enlightened  classes  of  the 
Union  has  always  been  opposed  to  him.  But  he  was  raised 
to  the  presidency,  and  has  been  maintained  in  that  lofty  sta 
tion,  solely  by  the  recollection  of  a  victory  which  he  gained, 
twenty  years  ago,  under  the  walls  of  New  Orleans  ;  a  victory 
which  was,  however,  a  very  ordinary  achievement,  and 
which  could  only  be  remembered  in  a  country  where  battles 
are  rare.  Now  the  people  who  are  thus  carried  away  by  the 
illusions  of  glory,  are  unquestionably  the  most  cold  and  cal 
culating,  the  most  unmilitary  (if  I  may  use  the  expression), 
and  the  most  prosaic  of  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth. 

America  has  no  great  capital  city,*  whose  influence  is  di- 

*  The  United  States  have  no  metropolis ;  but  they  already  contain 
several  very  large  cities.  Philadelphia  reckoned  161,000  inhabitants, 
and  New  York  202,000,  in  the  year  1830.  The  lower  orders  which  in 
habit  these  cities  constitute  a  rabble  even  more  formidable  than  the 
populace  of  European  towns.  They  consist  of  freed  blacks  in  the  first 
place,  who  are  condemned  by  the  laws  and  by  public  opinion,  to  an 
hereditary  state  of  misery  and  degradation.  They  also  contain  a  mul 
titude  of  Europeans  who  have  been  driven  to  the  shores  of  the  New 
World  by  their  misfortunes  or  their  misconduct;  and  these  men  inocu 
late  the  United  States  with  all  our  vices,  without  bringing  with  them 
any  of  those  interests  which  counteract  their  baneful  influence.  As 
inhabitants  of  a  country  where  they  have  no  civil  rights,  they  are  ready 
to  turn  all  the  passions  which  agitate  the  community  to  the'ir  own  ad 
vantage  ;  thus,  within  the  last  few  months  serious  riots  have  broken 
out  in  Philadelphia  and  in  New  York.  Disturbances  of  this  kind  are 
unknown  in  the  rest  of  the  country,  which  is  nowise  alarmed  by  them, 
because  the  population  of  the  cities  has  hitherto  exercised  neither 
power  nor  influence  over  the  rural  districts. 

Nevertheless,  I  look  upon  the  size  of  certain  American  cities,  and 
especially  on  the  nature  of  their  population,  as  a  real  danger  which 
threatens  the  future  security  of  the  democratic  republics  of  the  New 
World :  and  I  venture  to  predict  that  they  will  peri^k  rrom  this  cir- 


CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

rectly  or  indirectly  felt  over  the  whole  extent  of  the  country, 
which  I  hold  to  be  one  of  the  first  causes  of  the  maintenance 
of  republican  institutions  in  the  United  States.  In  cities,  men 
cannot  be  prevented  from  concerting  together,  and  from 
awakening  a  mutual  excitement  which  prompts  sudden  and 
passionate  resolutions.  Cities  may  be  looked  upon  as  large 
assemblies,  of  which  all  the  inhabitants  are  members ;  their 
populace  exercises  a  prodigious  influence  upon  the  magis 
trates,  and  frequently  executes  its  own  wishes  without  their 
intervention. 

To  subject  the  provinces  to  the  metropolis,  is  therefore  not 
only  to  pi  ace  "the  destiny  of  the  empire  in  the  hands  of  a  por 
tion  of  the  community,  which  may  be  reprobated  as  unjust, 
but  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  a  populace  acting  under  its 
own  impulses,  which  must  be  avoided  as  dangerous.  The 
preponderance  of  capital  cities  is  therefore  a  serious  blow 
upon  the  representative  system ;  and  it  exposes  modern  re 
publics  to  the  same  defect  as  the  republics  of  antiquity,  which 
all  perished  from  not  being  acquainted  with  that  system. 

It  would  be  easy  for  me  to  adduce  a  great  number  of  se 
condary  causes  which  have  contributed  to  establish,  and 
which  concur  to  maintain,  the  democratic  republic  of  the 
United  States.  But  I  discern  two  principal  circumstances 
among  these  favorable  elements,  which  I  hasten  to  point  out. 
I  have  already  observed  that  the  origin  of  the  American  set 
tlements  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  first  and  most  efficacious 
cause  to  which  the  present  prosperity  of  the  United  States 
may  be  attributed.  The  Americans  had  the  chances  of  birth 
in  their  favor ;  and  their  forefathers  imported  that  equality 
of  conditions  into  the  country,  whence  the  democratic  repub 
lic  has  very  naturally  taken  its  rise.  Nor  was  this  all  they 
did ;  for  besides  this  republican  condition  of  society,  the  early 
settlers  bequeathed  to  their  descendants  those  customs,  man 
ners,  and  opinions,  which  contribute  most  to  the  success  of  a 
republican  form  of  government.  When  I  reflect  upon  the 
consequences  of  this  primary  circumstance,  methinks  I  see 
the  destiny  of  America  embodied  in  the  first  puritan  who 
landed  on  those  shores,  just  as  the  human  race  was  repre 
sented  by  the  first  man. 

The  chief  circumstance  which  has  favored  the  establish 
ment  and  the  maintenance  of  a  democratic  republic  in  the 

cumstance,  unless  the  government  succeed  in  creating  an  armed  force, 
which,  while  it  remains  under  the  control  of  the  majority  of  the  na 
tion,  will  be  independent  of  the  town  population,  and  able  to  repress 
its  excesses. 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.    *  295 

the  United  States,  is  the  nature  of  the  territory  which  the 
Americans  inhabit.  Their  ancestors  gave  them  the  love  of 
equality  and  of  freedom :  but  God  himself  gave  them  the 
means  of  remaining  equal  and  free,  by  placing  them  upon  a 
boundless  continent,  which  is  open  to  their  exertions.  Ge 
neral  prosperity  is  favorable  to  the  stability  of  all  governments, 
but  more  particularly  of  a  democratic  constitution,  which 
depends  upon  the  disposition  of  the  majority,  and  more  par 
ticularly  of  that  portion  of  the  community  which  is  most  ex 
posed  to  feel  the  pressure  of  want.  When  the  people  rules, 
it  must  be  rendered  happy,  or  it  will  overturn  the  state :  and 
misery  is  apt  to  stimulate  it  to  those  excesses  to  which  ambi 
tion  rouses  kings.  The  physical  causes,  independent  of  the 
laws,  which  contribute  to  promote  general  prosperity,  are 
more  numerous  in  America  than  they  have  ever  been  in  any 
other  country  in  the  world,  at  any  other  period  of  history. 
In  the  United  States,  not  only  is  legislation  democratic,  but 
nature  herself  favors  the  cause  of  the  people. 

In  what  part  of  human  tradition  can  be  found  anything  at 
all  similar  to  that  which  is  occurring  under  our  eyes  in  North 
America  ?  The  celebrated  communities  of  antiquity  were 
all  founded  in  the  midst  of  hostile  nations,  which  they  were 
obliged  to  subjugate  before  they  could  flourish  in  their  place. 
Even  the  moderns  have  found,  in  some  parts  of  South  Amer 
ica,  vast  regions  inhabited  by  a  people  of  inferior  civilisation, 
but  which  occupied  and  cultivated  the  soil.  To  found  their 
new  states,  it  was  necessary  to  extirpate  or  to  subdue  a  nu 
merous  population,  until  civilisation  has  been  made  to  blush 
for  their  success.  But  North  America  was  only  inhabited 
by  wandering  tribes,  who  took  no  thought  of  the  natural 
riches  of  the  soil :  and  that  vast  country  was  still,  properly 
speaking,  an  empty  continent,  a  desert  land  awaiting  its  in 
habitants. 

Everything  is  extraordinary  in  America,  the  social  condi 
tion  of  the  inhabitants,  as  well  as  the  laws  ;  but  the  soil  upon 
which  these  institutions  are  founded  is  more  extraordinary 
than  all  the  rest.  When  man  was  first  placed  upon  the 
earth  by  the  Creator,  that  earth  was  inexhaustible  in  its 
youth  ;  but  man  was  weak  and  ignorant :  and  when  he  had 
learned  to  explore  the  treasures  which  it  contained,  hosts  of 
his  fellow-creatures  covered  its  surface,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  earn  an  asylum  for  repose  and  for  freedom  by  the  sword. 
At  that  same  period  North  America  was  discovered,  as  if  it 
had  been  kept  in  reserve  by  the  Deity,  and  had  just  risen 
from  beneath  the  waters  of  the  deluge. 


mm 

on« 

296  -.*      CAUSES    TENDING   TO    MAINTAIN 

That  continent  still  presents,  as  it  did  in  the  primeval  time, 
rivers  which  risei  from  never-failing  sources,  green  and  moist 
solitudes,  and  fields  which  the  ploughshare  of  the  husband 
man  has  never  turned.  In  this  state  it  is  offered  to  man,  not 
in  the  barbarous  and  isolated  condition  of  the  early  ages,  but 
to  a  being  who  is  already  in  possession  of  the  most  potent 
secrets  of  the  natural  world,  who  is  united  to  his  fellow-men, 
and  instructed  by  the  experience  of  fifty  centuries.  At  this 
very  time  thirteen  millions  of  civilized  Europeans  are  peace 
ably  spreading  over  those  fertile  plains,  with  whose  resources 
and  whose  extent  they  are  not  yet  accurately  acquainted. 
Three  or  four  thousand  soldiers  drive  the  wandering  races  of 
the  aborigines  before  them ;  these  are  followed  by  the  pio 
neers,  who  pierce  the  woods,  scare  off  the  beasts  of  prey, 
explore  the  courses  of  the  inland  streams,  and  make  ready 
the  triumphal  procession  of  civilisation  across  the  waste. 

The  favorable  influence  of  the  temporal  prosperity  of  Ame 
rica  upon  the  institutions  of  that  country  has  been  so  often 
described  by  others,  and  adverted  to  by  myself,  that  I  shall 
not  enlarge  upon  it  beyond  the  addition  of  a  few  facts.  An 
erroneous  notion  is  generally  entertained,  that  the  deserts  of 
America  are  peopled  by  European  emigrants,  who  annually 
disembark  upon  the  coasts  of  the  New  World,  while  the  Ame 
rican  population  increases  and  multiplies  upon  the  soil  which 
its  forefathers  tilled.  The  European  settler,  however,  usu 
ally  arrives  in  the  United  States  without  friends,  and  some 
times  without  resources  ;  in  order  to  subsist  he  is  obliged  to 
work  for  hire,  and  he  rarely  proceeds  beyond  that  belt  of  in 
dustrious  population  which  adjoins  the  ocean.  The  desert 
cannot  be  explored  without  capital  or  credit,  and  the  body 
must  be  accustomed  to  the  rigors  of  a  new  climate  before  it 
can  be  exposed  to  the  chances  of  forest  life.  It  is  the  Ame 
ricans  themselves  who  daily  quit  the  spots  which  gave  them 
birth,  to  acquire  extensive  domains  in  a  remote  country. 
Thus  the  European  leaves  his  country  for  the  transatlantic 
shores  ;  and  the  American,  who  is  born  on  that  very  coast, 
plunges  into  the  wilds  of  central  America.  This  doubJe 
emigration  is  incessant :  it  begins  in  the  remotest  parls  of 
Europe,  it  crosses  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  it  advances  over 
the  solitudes  of  the  New  World.  Millions  of  men  are  march 
ing  at  once  toward  the  same  horizon  ;  their  language,  their 
religion,  their  manners  differ,  their  object  is  the  same.  The 
gifts  of  fortune  are  promised  in  the  west,  and  to  the  west  they 
bend  their  course. 

No  event  can  be  compared  with  this  continuous  removal 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    KEl'UBLIC. 


21)7 


of  the  human  race,  except  perhaps  those  irruptions  which 
preceded  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Then,  as  well  as 
now,  generations  of  men  were  impelled  forward  in  the  same 
direction  to  meet  and  struggle  on  the  same  spot ;  but  the  de 
signs  of  Providence  were  not  the  same  ;  then,  every  new 
comer  was  the  harbinger  of  destruction  and  of  death  ;  now, 
every  adventurer  brings  with  him  the  elements  of  prosperity 
and  of  life.  The  future  still  conceals  from  us  the  ulterior 
consequences  of  this  emigration  of  the  American  toward  tho 
west ;  but  we  can  hardly  apprehend  its  more  immediate  re 
sults.  As  a  portion  of  the  inhabitants  annually  leave  tho 
states  in  which  they  were  born,  the  population  of  these  states 
increases  very  slowly,  although  they  have  long  been  esta 
blished  :  thus  in  Connecticut,  which  only  contains  59  inhabit 
ants  to  the  square  mile,  the  population  has  not  been  increased 
by  more  than  one  quarter  in  forty  years,  while  that  of  Eng 
land  has  been  augmented  by  one  third  in  the  lapse  of  the 
same  period.  The  European  emigrant  always  lands,  there 
fore,  in  a  country  which  is  but  half  full,  and  where  hands 
are  in  request :  he  becomes  a  workman  in  easy  circumstan 
ces  ;  his  son  goes  to  seek  his  fortune  in  unpeopled  regions, 
and  he  becom  -s  a  rich  landowner.  The  former  amasses  the 
capital  which  the  latter  invests,  and  the  stranger  as  well  as 
the  native  is  unacquainted  with  want. 

The  laws  of  the  United  States  are  extremely  favorable  to 
the  division  of  property  ;  but  a  cause  which  is  more  powerful 
than  the  laws  prevents  property  from  being  divided  to  excess.* 
This  is  very  perceptible  in  the  states  which  are  beginning  to 
be  thickly  peopled  ;  Massachusetts  is  the  most  populous  part 
of  the  Union,  .but  it  contains  only  80  inhabitants  to  the  square 
mile,  which  is  much  less  than  in  France,  where  102  are 
reckoned  to  the  same  extent  of  country.  But  in  Massachu 
setts  estates  are  very  rarely  divided ;  the  eldest  son  takes 
the  land,  and  the  others  go  to  seek  their  fortune  in  the  desert. 
The  law  has  abolished  the  right  of  primogeniture,  but  cir 
cumstances  have  concurred  to  re-establish  it  under  a  form  of 
which  none  can  complain,  and  by  which  no  just  rights  are 
impaired. 

A  single  fact  will  suffice  to  show  the  prodigious  number  of 
individuals  who  leave  New  Eng^nd,  in  this  manner,  to  set 
tle  themselves  in  the  wilds.  We  were  assured  in  1830,  that 
thirty-six  of  the  members  of  congress  were  born  in  the  little 

*  In  New  England  the  estates  are  exceedingly  small,  but  they  are 
rarely  subjected  to  farther  division. 


CAUSES   TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

state  of  Connecticut.  The  population  of  Connecticut,  which 
constitutes  only  one  forty-third  part  of  that  of  the  United 
States,  thus  furnished  one-eighth  of  the  whole  body  of  rep 
resentatives.  The  state  of  Connecticut,  however,  only  sends 
five  delegates  to  congress ;  and  the  thirty-one  others  sit 
for  the  new  western  states.  If  these  thirty-one  individuals 
had  remained  in  Connecticut,  it  is  probable  that  instead 
of  becoming  rich  landowners  -they  would  have  remained 
humble  laborers,  that  they  would  have  lived  in  obscurity 
without  being  able  to  rise  into  public  life,  and  that,  far 
from  becoming  useful  members  of  the  legislature,  they 
might  have  been  unruly  citizens. 

These  reflections  do  not  escape  the  observation  of  the  Ame 
ricans  any  more  than  of  ourselves.  "  It  cannot  be  doubted," 
says  Chancellor  Kent  in  his  Treatise  on  American  Law, 
"  that  the  division  of  landed  estates  must  produce  great  evils 
when  it  is  carried  to  such  excess  that  each  parcel  of  land  is 
insufficient  to  support  a  family  ;  but  these  disadvantages 
have  never  been  felt  in  the  United  States,  and  many  genera 
tions  must  elapse  before  they  can  be  felt.  The  extent  of  our 
inhabited  territory,  the  abundance  of  adjacent  land,  and  the 
continual  stream  of  emigration  flowing  from  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic  toward  the  interior  of  the  country,  suffice  as  yet,  and 
will  long  suffice,  to  prevent  the  parcelling  out  of  estates." 

It  is  difficult  to  describe  the  rapacity  with  which  the  Ame 
rican  rushes  forward  to  secure  the  immense  booty  which  for 
tune  proffers  to  him.  In  the  pursuit  he  fearlessly  braves  the 
arrow  of  the  Indian  and  the  distempers  of  the  forest ;  he  is 
unimpressed  by  the  silence  of  the  woods ;  the  approach  of 
beasts  of  prey  does  not  disturb  him ;  for  he  is  goaded  on 
ward  by  a  passion  more  intense  than  the  love  of  life.  Be 
fore  him  lies  a  boundless  continent,  and  he  urges  onward 
as  if  time  pressed,  and ,  he  was  afraid  of  finding  no  room 
for  his  exertions.  I  have  spoken  of  the  emigration  from 
the  older  states,  but  how  shall  I  describe  that  which  takes 
place  from  the  more  recent  ones  ?  Fifty  years  have  scarcely 
elapsed  since  that  of  Ohio  was  founded  ;  the  greater  part  of 
its  inhabitants  were  not  born  within  its  confines  ;  its  capital 
has  only  been  built  thirty  years,  and  its  territory  is  still 
covered  by  an  immense  extent  of  uncultivated  fields ;  never 
theless,  the  population  of  Ohio  is  already  proceeding  west 
ward,  and  most  of  the  settlers  who  descend  to  the  fertile  sa 
vannahs  of  Illinois  are  citizens  of  Ohio.  These  men  left 
their  first  country  to  improve  their  condition  ;  they  quit  their 
resting-place  to  meliorate  it  still  more  ;  fortune  awaits  them 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  299 

everywhere,  but  happiness  they  cannot  attain.  The  desire 
of  prosperity  has  become  an  ardent  and  restless  passion  in 
their  minds,  which  grows  by  what  it  gains.  They  early 
broke  the'  ties  which  bound  them  to  their  natal  earth,  and 
they  have  contracted  no  fresh  ones  on  their  way.  Emigra 
tion  was  at  first  necessary  to  them  as  a  means  of  subsistence  ; 
and  it  soon  becomes  a  sort  of  game  of  chance,  which  they 
pursue  for  the  emotions  it  excites,  as  much  as  for  the  gain  it 
procures. 

Sometimes  the  progress  of  man  is  so  rapid  that  the  desert 
reappears  behind  him.  The  woods  stoop  to  give  him  a  pas 
sage,  and  spring  up  again  when  he  has  passed.  It  is  not 
uncommon  in  crossing  the  new  states  of  the  west  to  meet 
with  deserted  dwellings  in  the  midst  of  the  wilds  ;  the  travel 
ler  frequently  discovers  the  vestiges  of  a  log-house  in  the 
most  solitary  retreats,  which  bear  witness  to  the  power,  and 
no  less  to  the  inconstancy  of  man.  In  these  abandoned  fields, 
and  over  those  ruins  of  a  day,  the  primeval  forest  soon  scat 
ters  a  fresh  vegetation  ;  the  beasts  resume  the  haunts  which 
were  once  their  own  ;  and  nature  covers  the  traces  of  man's 
path  with  branches  and  with  flowers,  which  obliterate  his 
evanescent  track. 

I  remember  that  in  crossing  one  of  the  woodland  districts 
which  still  cover  the  state  of  New  York,  I  reached  the  shore 
of  a  lake,  which  was  embosomed  with  forests  coeval  with  the 
world.  A  small  island,  covered  with  woods,  whose  thick 
foliage  concealed  its  banks,  rose  from  the  centre  of  the 
waters.  Upon  the  shores  of  the  lake  no  object  attested  the 
presence  of  man,  except  a  column  of  smoke  which  might  be 
seen  on  the  horizon  rising  from  the  tops  of  the  trees  to  the 
clouds,  and  seeming  to  hang  from  heaven  rather  than  to  be 
mounting  to  the  sky.  An  Indian  shallop  was  hauled  up  on 
the  sand,  which  tempted  me  to  visit  the  islet  that  had  at 
first  attracted  my  attention,  and  in  a  few  minutes  I  set  foot 
upon  its  banks.  The  whole  island  formed  one  of  those  deli 
cious  solitudes  of  the  New  World,  which  almost  lead  civilized 
man  to  regret  the  haunts  of  the  savage.  A  luxuriant  vege 
tation  bore  witness  to  the  incomparable  fruitfulness  of  the 
soil.  The  deep  silence,  which  is  common  to  the  wilds  of 
North  America,  was  only  broken  by  the  hoarse  cooing  of  the 
wood-pigeon  and  the  tapping  of  the  woodpecker  upon  the 
bark  of  trees.  I  was  far  from  supposing  that  this  spot  had 
ever  been  inhabited;  so  completely  did  nature  seem  to  be  left  to 
her  own  caprices  ;  but  when  I  reached  the  cent  re  of  the  isle 
I  thought  that  I  discovered  some  traces  of  man.  I  then  pro- 


300  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

ceeded  to  examine  the  surrounding  objects  with  care,  and  I 
soon  perceived  that  an  European  had  undoubtedly  been  led 
to  seek  a  refuge  in  this  retreat.  Yet  what  changes  had  taken 
place  in  the  scene  of  his  labors !  The  logs  which  he  had 
hastily  hewn  to  build  himself  a  shed  had  sprouted  afresh  ;  the 
very  props  were  intertwined  with  living  verdure,  and  his  cabin 
was  transformed  into  a  bower.  In  the  midst  of  these  shrubs 
a  few  stones  were  to  be  seen,  blackened  with  fire  and  sprink 
led  with  thin  ashes ;  here  the  hearth  had  no  doubt  been,  and 
the  chimney  in  falling  had  covered  it  with  rubbish.  I  stood 
for  some  time  in  silent  admiration  of  the  exuberance  of  nature 
and  the  littleness  of  man  ;  and  when  1  was  obliged  to  leave 
that  enchanting  solitude,  I  exclaimed  with  melancholy,  "  Are 
ruins,  then,  already  here  ?" 

In  Europe  we  are  wont  to  look  upon  a  restless  disposition, 
an  unbounded  desire  of  riches,  and  an  excessive  love  of  inde 
pendence,  as  propensities  very  formidable  to  society.  Yet 
these  are  the  very  elements  which  ensure  a  long  and  peace 
ful  duration  to  the  republics  of  America.  Without  these  un 
quiet  passions  the  population  would  collect  in  certain  spots, 
and  would  soon  be  subject  to  wants  like  those  of  the  Old 
World,  which  it  is  difficult  to  satisfy ;  for  such  is  the  present 
good  fortune  of  the  New  World,  that  the  vices  of  its  inhabit 
ants  are  scarcely  less  favorable  to  society  than  their  virtues. 
These  circumstances  exercise  a  great  influence  on  the  esti 
mation  in  which  human  actions  are  held  in  the  two  hemi. 
spheres.  The  Americans  frequently  term  what  we  should  call 
cupidity  a  laudable  industry  ;  and  they  blame  as  faint-heart- 
edness  what  we  consider  to  be  the  virtue  of  moderate  de 
sires. 

In  France  simple  tastes,  orderly  manners,  domestic  affec 
tions,  and  the  attachment  which  men  feel  to  the  place  of  their 
birth,  are  looked  upon  as  great  guarantees  of  the  tranquillity 
and  happiness  of  the  state.  But  in  America  nothing  seems 
to  be  more  prejudicial  to  society  than  these  virtues.  The 
French  Canadians,  who  have  faithfully  preserved  the  tradi 
tions  of  their  pristine  manners,  are  already  embarrassed  for 
room  upon  their  small  territory ;  and  this  little  community, 
which  has  so  recently  begun  to  exist,  will  shortly  be  a  prey  to 
the  calamities  incident  to  old  nations.  In  Canada  the  most 
enlightened,  patriotic,  and  humane  inhabitants,  make  extraor 
dinary  efforts  to  render  the  people  dissatisfied  with  those  sim 
pie  enjoyments  which  still  content  it.  There  the  seductions 
of  wealth  are  vaunted  with  as  much  zeal,  as  the  charms  of 
an  honest  but  limited  income  in  the  Old  World  ;  and  more 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  301 

exertions  are  made  to  excite  the  passions  of  tne  citizens  there 
than  to  calm  them  elsewhere.  If  we  listen  to  the  eulogies, 
we  shall  hear  that  nothing  is  more  praiseworthy  than  to  ex 
change  the  pure  and  homely  pleasures  which  even  the  poor 
man  tastes  in  his  own  country,  for  the  dull  delights  of  pros 
perity  under  a  foreign  sky  ;  to  leave  the  patrimonial  hearth, 
and  the  turf  beneath  which  his  forefathers  sleep  ;  in  short,  to 
abandon  the  living  and  the  dead  in  quest  of  fortune. 

At  the  present  time  America  presents  a  field  for  human 
effort,  far  more  extensive  than  any  sum  of  labor  which  can 
be  applied  to  work  it.  In  America,  too  much  knowledge  can 
not  be  diffused  ;  for  all  knowledge,  while  it  may  serve  him 
who  possesses  it,  turns  also  to  the  advantage  of  those  who  are 
without  it.  New  wants  are  not  to  be  feared,  since  they  can 
be  satisfied  without  difficulty  ;  the  growth  of  human  passions 
need  not  be  dreaded,  since  all  passions  may  find  an  easy  and 
a  legitimate  object :  nor  can  men  be  put  in  possession  of  too 
much  freedom,  since  they  are  scarcely  ever  tempted  to  mis 
use  their  liberties. 

The  American  republics  of  the  present  day  are  like  com 
panies  of  adventurers,  formed  to  explore  in  common  the  waste 
lands  of  the  New  World,  and  busied  in  a  flourishing  trade. 
The  passions  which  agitate  the  Americans  most  deeply,  are 
not  their  political,  but  their  commercial  passions  ;  or,  to  speak 
more  correctly,  they  introduce  the  habits  they  contract  in 
business  into  their  political  life.  They  love  order,  without 
which  affairs  do  not  prosper ;  and  they  set  an  especial  value 
upon  a  regular  conduct,  which  is  the  foundation  of  a  solid 
business  ;  they  prefer  the  good  sense  which  amasses  large 
fortunes,  to  that  enterprising  spirit  which  frequently  dissipates 
them  ;  general  ideas  alarm  their  minds,  which  are  accustom 
ed  to  positive  calculations ;  and  they  hold  practice  in  more 
honor  than  theory. 

It  is  in  America  that  one  learns  to  understand  the  influ 
ence  which  physical  prosperity  exercises  over  political  actions, 
and  even  over  opinions  which  ought  to  acknowledge  no  sway 
but  that  of  reason  ;  and  it  is  more  especially  among  strangers 
that  this  truth  is  perceptible.  Most  of  the  European  emi 
grants  to  the  New  World  carry  with  them  that  wild  love  of 
independence  and  of  change,  which  our  calamities  are  apt  to 
engender.  I  sometimes  met  with  Europeans,  in  the  United 
States,  who  had  been  obliged  to  leave  their  own  country  on 
account  of  their  political  opinions.  They  all  astonished  me 
by  the  language  they  held ;  but  one  of  them  surprised  me 
more  than  all  the  rest.  As  I  was  crossing  one  of  the  most 


302  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

remote  districts  of  Pennsylvania,  I  was  benighted,  and  oblig 
ed  to  beg  for  hospitality  at  the  gate  of  a  wealthy  planter,  who 
was  a  Frenchman  by  birth.  He  bade  me  sit  down  beside  his 
fire,  and  we  began  to  talk  with  that  freedom  which  befits  per 
sons  who  meet  in  the  backwoods,  two  thousand  leagues  from 
their  native  country.  I  was  aware  that  my  host  had  been  a 
great  leveller  and  an  ardent  demagogue,  forty  years  ago,  and 
that  his  name  was  not  unknown  to  fame.  I  was  therefore  not 
a  little  surprised  to  hear  him  discuss  the  rights  of  property  as 
an  economist  or  a  landowner  might  have  done  :  he  spoke  of 
the  necessary  gradations  which  fortune  established  among 
men,  of  obedience  to  established  laws,  of  the  influence  of 
good  morals  in  commonwealths,  and  of  the  support  which  re 
ligious  opinions  give  to  order  and  to  freedom;  he  even  went 
so  far  as  to  quote  an  evangelical  authority  in  corroboration  of 
one  of  his  political  tenets. 

I  listened,  and  marvelled  at  the  feebleness  of  human  rea 
son.  A  proposition  is  true  or  false,  but  no  art  can  prove  it 
to  be  one  or  the  other,  in  the  midst  of  the  uncertainties  of 
science  and  the  conflicting  lessons  of  experience,  until  a  new 
incident  disperses  the  clouds  of  doubt ;  I  was  poor,  I  become 
rich  ;  and  I  am  not  to  expect  that  prosperity  will  act  upon  my 
conduct,  and  leave  my  judgment  free :  my  opinions  change 
with  my  fortune,  and  the  happy  circumstances  which  I  turn 
to  my  advantage,  furnish  me  with  that  decisive  argument 
which  was  before  wanting. 

[The  sentence  beginning  "  I  wats  poor,  I  become  rich,"  &c.,  struck 
the  editor,  on  perusal,  as  obscure,  if  not  contradictory.  The  original 
seems  more  explicit,  and  justice  to  the  author  seems  to  require  that  it 
should  be  presented  to  the  reader.  "  J'etais  pauvre,  me  voici  riche  ; 
du  moins,  si  le  bien-etre,  en  agissant  sur  ma  conduite,  laissait  mon 
jugement  en  liberte  !  Mais  non,  mes  opinions  sont  en  effet  changees 
avec  ma  fortune,  et,  dans  1'evenement  heureux  dont  je  profite,  j'ai  rc- 
ellement  decouvert  la  raison  determinante  qui  jusque-la  m'avait  man 
que*." — American  Editor.'] 

The  influence  of  prosperity  acts  still  more  freely  upon  the 
American  than  upon  strangers.  The  American  has  always 
seen  the  connexion  of  public  order  and  public  prosperity,  in 
timately  united  as  they  are,  go  on  before  his  eyes ;  he  does 
not  conceive  that  one  can  subsist  without  the  other ;  he  has 
therefore  nothing  to  forget :  nor  has  he,  like  so  many  Europ 
cans,  to  unlearn  the  lessons  of  his  early  education. 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  303 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    LAWS   UPON    THE    MAINTENANCE    OF    THE 
DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Three  principal  Causes  of  the  Maintenance  of  the  democratic  Repub 
lic. —  Federal  Constitutions. —  Municipal  Institutions. —  Judicial 
PC  vver. 

THE  principal  aim  of  this  x>ok  has  been  to  make  Known  the 
laws  of  the  United  States;  if  this  purpose  has  been  accom 
plished,  the  reader  is  already  enabled  to  judge  for  himself 
which  are  the  laws  that  really  tend  to  maintain  the  democratic 
republic,  and  which  endanger  its  existence.  If  I  have  not 
succeeded  in  explaining  this  in  the  whole  course  of  my  work, 
I  cannot  hope  to  do  so  within  the  limits  of  a  single- chapter. 
It  is  not  my  intention  to  retrace  the  path  I  have  already  pur 
sued  ;  and  a  very  few  lines  will  suffice  to  recapitulate  what  I 
have  previously  explained. 

Three  circumstances  seem  to  me  to  contribute  most  pow 
erfully  to  the  maintenance  of  the  democratic  republic  in  the 
United  States. 

The  first  is  that  federal  form  of  government  which  the 
Americans  have  adopted,  and  which  enables  the  Union  to 
combine  the  power  of  a  great  empire  with  the  security  of  a 
small  state  ; — 

The  second  consists  in  those  municipal  institutions  which 
limit  the  despotism  of  the  majority,  and  at  the  same  time  im 
part  a  taste  for  freedom,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  art  of  being 
free,  to  the  people  ; — 

The  third  is  to  be  met  with  in  the  constitution  of  the  ju 
dicial  power.  I  have  shown  in  wrhat  manner  the  courts  of 
justice  serve  to  repress  the  excesses  of  democracy  ;  and  how 
they  check  and  direct  the  impulses  of  the  majority,  without 
stopping  its  activity. 


INFLUENCE  OF  MANNERS  UPON  THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  THE 
DEMOCRATIC:  REPUBLIC  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

I  HAVE  previously  remarked  that  the  manners  of  the  people 
may  be  considered  as  one  of  the  general  causes  to  which  the 
maintenance  of  a  democratic  republic  in  the  United  States 
is  attributable.  I  here  use  the  word  manners,  with  the  mean 
ing  which  the  ancients  attached  to  the  word  mores  ;  for  I  ap 
ply  it  not  only  to  manners,  in  their  proper  sense  of  what  con- 


304  CAUSES    TENDING   TO   MAINTAIN 

stitutes  the  character  of  social  intercourse,  but  I  extend  it  to 
the  various  notions  and  opinions  current  among  men,  and  to 
the  mass  of  those  ideas  which  constitute  their  character  of 
mind.  I  comprise,  therefore,  under  this  term  the  whole  moral 
and  intellectual  condition  of  a  people.  My  intention  is  not 
to  draw  a  picture  of  American  manners,  but  simply  to  point 
out  such  features  of  them  as  are  favorable  to  the  maintenance 
of  political  institutions. 


RELIGION  CONSIDERED  AS  A  POLITICAL  INSTITUTION,  WHICH 
POWERFULLY  CONTRIBUTES  TO  THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  THE 
DEMOCRATIC  REPUBLIC  AMONG  THE  AMERICANS. 

North  America  peopled  by  Men  who  professed  a  democratic  and  re 
publican  Christianity. — Arrival  of  the  Catholics. — For  what  Reason 
the  Catholics  form  the  most  democratic  and  the  most  republican 
Class  at  the  present  Time. 

EVERY  religion  is  to  be  found  in  juxtaposition  to  a  political 
opinion,  which  is  connected  with  it  by  affinity.  If  the  hu 
man  mind  be  left  to  follow  its  own  bent,  it  will  regulate  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  institutions  of  society  upon  one  uni 
form  principle ;  and  man  will  endeavor,  if  I  may  use  the 
expression,  to .  harmonize  the  state  in  which  he  lives  upon 
earth,  with  the  state  he  believes  to  await  him  in  heaven. 

The  greatest  part  of  British  America  was  peopled  by  men 
who,  after  having  shaken  off  the  authority  of  the  pope,  ac 
knowledged  no  other  religious  supremacy  :  they  brought  with 
them  into  the  New  World  a  form  of  Christianity,  which  I 
cannot  .better  describe,  than  by  styling  it  a  democratic  and 
republican  religion.  This  sect  contributed  powerfully  to  the 
establishment  of  a  democracy  and  a  republic ;  and  from  the 
earliest  settlement  of  the  emigrants,  politics  and  religion  con 
tracted  an  alliance  which  has  never  been  dissolved. 

About  fifty  years  ago  Ireland  began  to  pour  a  catholic 
population  into  the  United  States ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
catholics  of  America  made  proselytes,  and  at  the  present 
moment  more  than  a  million  of  Christians,  professing  the 
truths  of  the  church  of  Rome,  are  to  be  met  with  in  the 
Union.  These  catholics  are  faithful  to  the  observances  of 
their  religion  ;  they  are  fervent  and  zealous  in  the  support 
and  belief  of  their  doctrines.  Nevertheless  they  constitute 
the  most  republican  and  the  most  democratic  class  of  citizens 
which  exists  in  the  United  States ;  and  although  this  fact 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  305 

may  surprise  the  observe  ?,t  first,  the  cause  by  which  it  is 
occasioned  may  easily  be  discovered  upon  reflection. 

I  think  that  the  catholic  religion  has  erroneously  been 
looked  upon  as  the  natural  enemy  of  democracy.  Among 
the  various  sects  of  Christians,  Catholicism  seems  to  me,  on 
the  contrary,  to  be  one  of  those  which  are  most  favorable  to 
the  equality  of  conditions.  In  the  catholic  church,  the  re 
ligious  community  is  composed  of  only  two  elements ;  the 
priest  and  the  people.  The  priest  alone  rises  above  the  rank 
of  his  flock,  and  all  below  him  are  equal. 

On  doctrinal  points  the  catholic  faith  places  all  human 
capacities  upon  the  same  level  ;  it  subjects  the  wise  and  the 
ignorant,  the  man  of  genius  and  the  vulgar  crowd,  to  the 
details  of  the  same  creed  ;  it  imposes  the  same  observances 
upon  the  rich  and  needy,  it  inflicts  the  same  austerities  upon 
the  ste'ong  and  the  weak,  it  listens  to  no  compromises  with 
mortal  man,  but  reducing  all  the  human  race  to  the  same 
standard,  it  confounds  all  the  distinctions  of  society  at  the  foot 
of  the  same  altar,  even  as  they  are  confounded  in  the  sight 
of  God.  If  Catholicism  predisposes  the  faithful  to  obedience, 
it  certainly  does  not  prepare  them  for  inequality  ;  but  the 
contrary  may  be  said  of  protestantism,  which  generally 
tends  to  make  men  independent,  more  than  to  render  them 
equal. 

Catholicism  is  like  an  absolute  monarchy  ;  if  the  sovereign 
be  removed,  all  the  other  classes  of  society  are  more  equal 
than  they  are  in  republics.  It  has  not  unfrequently  occurred 
that  the  catholic  priest  has  left  the  service  of  the  altar  to 
mix  with  the  governing  powers  of  society,  and  to  make  his 
place  among  the  civil  gradations  of  men.  This  religious  in 
fluence  has  sometimes  been  used  to  secure  the  interests  of 
that  political  state  of  things  to  which  he  belonged.  At  other 
times  catholics  have  taken  the  side  of  aristocracy  from  a 
spirit  of  religion. 

But  no  sooner  is  the  priesthood  entirely  separated  from  the 
government,  as  is  the  case  in  the  United  States,  than  it  is 
found  that  no  class  of  men  are  more  naturally  disposed  than 
the  catholics  to  transfuse  the  doctrine  of  the  equality  of  con 
ditions  into  the  political  world.  If,  then,  the  catholic  citizens 
of  the  United  States  are  not  forcibly  led  by  the  nature  of 
their  tenets  to  adopt  democratic  and  republican  principles,  at 
least  they  are  not  necessarily  opposed  to  them ;  and  their 
social  position,  as  well  as  their  limited  number,  obliges  them 
to  adopt  these  opinions.  Most  of  the  catholics  are  poor,  and 
they  have  no  chance  of  taking  a  part  in  the  government  UD 
20 


t306  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

less  it  be  open  to  all  the  citizens.  They  constitute  a  minori 
ty,  and  all  rights  must  be  respected  in  order  to  ensure  to  them 
the  free  exercise  of  their  own  privileges.  These  two  causes 
induce  them,  unconsciously,  to  adopt  political  doctrines  which 
they  would  perhaps  support  with  less  zeal  if  they  were  rich 
and  preponderant. 

The  catholic  clergy  of  the  United  States  has  never  at 
tempted  to  oppose  this  political  tendency  ;  but  it  seeks  rather 
to  justify  its  results.  The  priests  in  America  have  divided 
the  intellectual  world  into  two  parts :  in  the  one  they  place  the 
doctrines  of  revealed  religion,  ,which  command  their  assent ; 
in  the  other'they  leave  those  truths,  which  they  believe  to 
have  been  freely  left  open  to  the  researches  of  political  in 
quiry.  Thus  the  catholics  of  the  United  States  are  at  the 
same  time  the  most  faHhful  believers  and  the  most  zealous 
citizens. 

It  may  be  asserted  that  in  the  United  States  no  religious 
doctrine  displays  the  slightest  hostility  to  democratic  and  re 
publican  institutions.  The  clergy  of  all  the  different  sects 
holds  the  same  language  ;  their  opinions  are  consonant  to 
the  laws,  and  the  human  intellect  flows  onward  in  one  sole 
current. 

I  happened  to  be  staying  in  one  of  the  largest  towns  in  the 
Union,  when  I  was  invited  to  attend  a  public  meeting  which 
had  been  called  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  Poles,  and 
of  sending  them  supplies  of  arms  and  money.  I  found  two 
or  three  thousand  persons  collected  in  a  vast  hall  which  had 
been  prepared  to  receive  them.  In  a  short  time  a  priest  in 
his  ecclesiastical  robes  advanced  to  the  front  of  the  hustings : 
the  spectators  rose,  and  stood  uncovered,  while  he  spoke  in 
the  'following  terms  : — 

"  Almighty  God  !  the  God  of  armies !  Thou  who  didst 
strengthen  the  hearts  and  guide  the  arms  of  our  fathers  when 
they  were  fighting  for  the  sacred  rights  of  national  independ 
ence  ;  thou  who  didst  make  them  triumph  over  a  hateful  op 
pression,  and  hast  granted  to  our  people  the  benefits  of  liberty 
and  peace ;  turn,  O  Lord,  a  favorable  eye  upon  the  other 
hemisphere  ;  pitifully  look  down  upon  that  heroic  nation 
which  is  even  now  struggling  as  we  did  in  the  former  time, 
and  for  the  same  rights  which  we  defended  with  our  blood. 
Thou,  who  didst  create  man  in  the  likeness  of  the  same 
image,  let  no  tyranny  mar  thy  work,  and  establish  inequality 
upon  the  earth.  Almighty  God!  do  thou  watch  over  the 
destiny  of  the  Poles,  and  render  them  worthy  to  be  free. 
May  thy  wisdom  direct  ttair  councils,  and  may  thy  strength 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  307 

sustain  their  arms  !  Shed  forth  thy  terror  over  their  ene- 
mies ;  scatter  the  powers  which  take  counsel  against  them ; 
and  vouchsafe  that  the  injustice  which  the  world  has  beheld 
for  fifty  years,  be  not  consummated  in  our  time.  O  Lord, 
who  boldest  alike  the  hearts  of  nations  and  of  men  in  thy 
powerful  hand,  raise  up  allies  to  the  sacred  cause  of  right ; 
arouse  the  French  nation  from  the  apathy  in  which  its  rulers 
retain  it,  that  it  go  forth  again  to  fight  for  the  liberties  of  the 
world. 

"  Lord,  turn  not  thou  thy  face  from  us,  and  grant  that  we 
may  always  be  the  most  religious  as  well  as  the  freest  people 
of  the  earth.  Almighty  God,  hear  our  supplications  this  day. 
Save  the  Poles,  we  beseech  thee,  in  the  name  of  thy  well- 
beloved  Son,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  upon  the  cross 
for  the  salvation  of  men.  Amen." 

The  whole  meeting  responded  "  Amen  !"  with  devotion. 


INDIRECT   INFLUENCE    OF    RELIGIOUS    OPINIONS   UPON    POLITICAL 
SOCIETY    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Christian  Morality  common  to  all  Sects. — Influence  of  Religion  upon 
the  Manners  of  the  Americans. — Respect  for  the  marriage  Tie. — In 
what  manner  Religion  confines  the  Imagination  of  the  Americans 
within  certain  Limits,  and  checks  the  Passion  of  Innovation. — Opinion 
of  the  Americans  on  the  political  Utility  of  Religion. — Their  Exer 
tions  to  extend  and  secure  its  Predominance. 

I  HAVE  just  shown  what  the  direct  influence  of  religion  upon 
politics  is  in  the  United  States  ;  but  its  indirect  influence 
appears  to  me  to  be  still  more  considerable,  and  it  never 
instructs  the  Americans  more  fully  in  the  art  of  being  free  than 
when  it  says  nothing  of  freedom. 

The  sects  which  exist  in  the  United  States  are  innumerable. 
They  all  differ  in  respect  to  the  worship  which  is  due  from 
man  to  his  Creator  ;  but  they  all  agree  in  respect  to  the 
duties  which  are  due  from  man  to  man.  Each  sect  adores 
the  Deity  in  its  own  peculiar  manner ;  but  all  the  sects  preach 
the  same  moral  law  in  the  name  of  God.  If  it  be  of  the 
slightest  importance  to  man,  as  an  individual,  that  his  religion 
should  be  true,  the  case  of  society  is  not  the  same.  Society 
has  no  future  life  to  hope  for  or  to  fear ;  and  provided  the 
citizens  profess  a  religion,  the  peculiar  tenets  of  that  religion 
are  of  very  little  importance  to  its  interests.  Moreover, 
almost  all  the  sects  of  the  United  States  are  comprised  within 


308  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

the  great  unity  of  Christianity,  and  Christian  morality  is  every 
where  the  same. 

It  may  be  believed  without  unfairness,  that  a  certain 
number  of  Americans  pursue  a  peculiar  form  of  worship, 
from  habit  more  than  from  conviction.  In  the  United  States 
the  sovereign  authority  is  religious,  and  consequently  hypo 
crisy  must  be  common ;  but  there  is  no  country  in  the  whole 
world  in  which  the  Christian  religion  retains  a  greater 
influence  over  the  souls  of  men  than  in  America  ;  and  there 
can  be  no  greater  proof  of  its  utility,  and  of  its  conformity  to 
human  nature,  than  that  its  influence  is  most  powerfully  felt 
over  the  most  enlightened  and  free  nation  of  the  earth. 

I  have  remarked  that  the  members  of  the  American  clergy 
in  general,  without  even  excepting  those  who  do  not  admit 
religious  liberty,  are  all  in  favor  of  civil  freedom  ;  but  they  do 
not  support  any  particular  political  system.  They  keep  aloof 
from  parties,  and  from  public  affairs.  In  the  United  States 
religion  exercises  but  little  influence  upon  the  laws,  and  upon 
the  details  of  public  opinion ;  but  it  directs  the  manners  of  the 
community,  and  by  regulating  domestic  life,  it  regulates  the 
state. 

I  do  not  question  that  the  great  austerity  of  manners  which 
is  observable  in  the  United  States,  arises,  in  the  first  instance, 
from  religious  faith.  Religion  is  often  unable  to  restrain  man 
from  the  numberless  temptations  of  fortune  ;  nor  can  it  check 
that  passion  for  gain  which  every  incident  of  his  life  contri 
butes  to  arouse ;  but  its  influence  over  the  mind  of  women  is 
supreme,  and  women  are  the  protectors  of  morals.  There  is 
certainly  no  country  in  the  world  where  the  tie  of  marriage 
is  so  much  respected  as  in  America,  or  where  conjugal 
happiness  is  more  highly  or  worthily  appreciated.  In  Europe 
almost  all  the  disturbances  of  society  arise  from  the  irregu 
larities  of  domestic  life.  To  despise  the  natural  bonds  and 
legitimate  pleasures  of  home,  is  to  contract  a  taste  for  excesses, 
a  restlessness  of  heart,  and  the  evil  of  fluctuating  desires. 
Agitated  by  the  tumultuous  passions  which  frequently  disturb 
his  dwelling,  the  European  is  galled  by  the  obedience 
which  the  legislative  powers  of  the  state  exact.  But  when 
the  American  retires  from  the  turmoil  of  public  life  to  the 
bosom  of  his  family,  he  finds  in  it  the  image  of  order  and  of 
peace.  There  his  pleasures  are  simple  and  natural,  his  joys 
are  innocent  and  calm  ;  and  as  he  finds  that  an  orderly  life 
is  the  surest  path  to  happiness,  he  accustoms  himself  without 
difficulty  to  moderate  his  opinions  as  well  as  his  tastes. 
While  the  European  endeavors  to  forget  his  domestic  troubles 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  309 

by  agitating  society,  the  American  derives  from  his  own  home 
that  love  of  order,  which  he  afterward  carries  with  him  into 
public  affairs. 

In  the  United  States  the  influence  of  religion  is  not  confined 
to  the  manners,  but  it  extends  to  the  intelligence  of  the  people. 
Among  the  Anglo-Americans,  there  are  some  who  profess  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  from  a  sincere  belief  in  them,  and 
others  who  do  the  same  because  they  are  afraid  to  be  suspected 
of  unbelief.  Christianity,  therefore,  reigns  without  any 
obstacle,  by  universal  consent ;  the  consequence  is,  as  I 
have  before  observed,  that  every  principle  of  the  moral  world 
is  fixed  and  determinate,  although  the  political  world  is 
abandoned  to  the  debates  and  the  experiments  of  men.  Thus 
the  human  mind  is  never  left  to  wander  across  a  boundless 
field ;  and,  whatever  may  be  its  pretensions,  it  is  checked 
from  time  to  time  by  barriers  which  it  cannot  surmount. 
Before  it  can  perpetrate  innovation,  certain  primal  and  immu 
table  principles  are  laid  down,  and  the  boldest  conceptions  of 
human  device  are  subjected  to  certain  forms  which  retard  and 
stop  their  completion. 

The  imagination  of  the  Americans,  even  in  its  greatest 
flights,  is  circumspect  and  undecided  ;  its  impulses  are 
checked,  and  its  works  unfinished.  These  habits  of  restraint 
recur  in  political  society,  and  are  singularly  favorable  both 
to  the  tranquillity  of  the  people  and  the  durability  of  the  insti 
tutions  it  has  established.  Nature  and  circumstances  concur 
red  to  make  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  bold  men, 
as  is  sufficiently  attested  by  the  enterprising  spirit  with  which 
they  seek  for  fortune.  If  the  minds  of  the  Americans  were 
free  from  all  trammels,  they  would  very  shortly  become  the 
most  daring  innovators  and  the  most  implacable  disputants  in 
the  world.  But  the  revolutionists  of  America  are  obliged  to 
profess  an  ostensible  respect  for  Christian  morality  and  equity, 
which  does  not  easily  permit  them  to  violate  the  laws  that 
oppose  their  designs  ;  nor  would  they  find  it  easy  to  surmount 
the  scruples  of  their  partisans,  even  if  they  were  able  to  get 
over  their  own.  Hitherto  no  one,  in  the  United  States,  has 
dared  to  advance  the  maxim,  that  everything  is  permissible 
with  a  view  to  the  interests  of  society  ;  an  impious  adage, 
which  seems  to  have  been  invented  in  an  age  of  freedom,  to 
shelter  all  the  tyrants  of  future  ages.  Thus  while  the  law 
permits  the  Americans  to  do  what  they  please,  religion  pre 
vents  them  from  conceiving,  and  forbids  them  to  commit,  what 
is  rash  and  unjust. 

Religion  in  America  takes  no  direct  part  in  the  govern- 


310  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

ment  of  society,  but  it  must  nevertheless  be  regarded  as  the 
foremost  of  the  political  institutions  of  that  country  ;  ibr  if  it 
does  not  impart  a  taste  for  freedom,  it  facilitates  the  use  of 
free  institutions.  Indeed,  it  is  in  this  same  point  of  view  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  themselves  look  upon  reli 
gious  belief.  I  do  not  know  whether  all  the  Americans  have 
a  sincere  faith  in  their  religion;  for  who  can  search  the 
human  heart  ?  but  I  am  certain  that  they  hold  it  to  be  indis 
pensable  to  the  maintenance  of  republican  institutions.  This 
opinion  is  not  peculiar  to  a  class  of  citizens  or  to  a  party,  but 
it  belongs  to  the  whole  nation,  and  to  every  rank  of  society. 

In  the  United  States,  if  a  political  character  attacks  a  sect, 
this  may  not  prevent  even  the  partisans  of  that  very  sect, 
from  supporting  him  ;  but  if  he  attacks  all  the  sects  together, 
every  one  abandons  him,  and  he  remains  alone. 

While  I  was  in  America,  a  witness,  who  happened  to  be 
called  at  the  assizes  of  the  county  of  Chester  (state  of  New 
York),  declared  that  he  did  not  believe  in  the  existence  of 
God  or  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  The  judge  refused 
to  admit  his  evidence,  on  the  ground  that  the  witness  had 
destroyed  beforehand  all  the  confidence  of  the  court  in  what 
he  was  about  to  say.*  The  newspapers  related  the  fact  with 
out  any  farther  comment. 

*  The  New  York  Spectator  of  August  23d,  1831,  relates  the  fact  in 
the  following  terms  t  *'  The  court  of  common  pleas  of  Chester  county 
(New  York),  a  few  days  since  rejected  a  witness  who  declared  his  dis 
belief  in  the  existence  of  God.  The  presiding  judge  remarked,  that  he 
had  not  before  been  aware  that  there  was  a  man  living  who  did  not 
believe  in  the  existence  of  God ;  that  this  belief  constituted  the  sanction 
of  all  testimony  in  a  court  of  justice ;  and  that  he  knew  of  no  cause 
in  a  Christian  country,  where  a  witness  had  been  permitted  to  testify 
without  such  belief. 

[The  instance  given  by  the  author,  of  a  person  offered  as  a  witness 
naving  been  rejected  on  the  ground  that  he  did  not  believe  in  the 
existence  of  a  God,  seems  to  be  adduced  to  prove  either  his  assertion 
that  the  Americans  hold  religion  to  be  indispensable  to  the  maintenance 
of  republican  institutions — or  his  assertion,  that  if  a  man  attacks  all  the 
sects  together,  every  one  abandons  him  and  he  remains  alone.  But  it 
is  questionable  how  far  the  fact  quoted  proves  either  of  these  positions. 
The  rule  which  prescribes  as  a  qualification  for  a  witness  the  belief  in  a 
Supreme  Being  who  will  punish  falsehood,  without  which  he  is  darned 
wholly  incompetent  to  testify,  is  established  for  the  protection  of  per 
sonal  rights,  and  not  to  compel  the  adoption  of  any  system  of  religious 
belief.  It  came  with  all  our  fundamental  principles  from  England  as  a 
part  of  the  common  law  which  the  colonists  brought  with  them.  It 
is  supposed  to  prevail  in  every  country  in  Christendom,  whatever  may 
be  the  form  of  its  government ;  and  the  only  doubt  that  arises  respect 
ing  its  existence  in  France,  is  created  by  our  author's  apparent  surprise 
at  finding  such  a  rule  in  America. — American  Editor.] 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  311 

The  Americans  combine  the  notions  of  Christianity  and  of 
liberty  so  intimately  in  their  minds,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  make  them  conceive  the  one  without  the  other ;  and  with 
them  this  conviction  does  not  spring  from  that  barren  tradi 
tionary  faith  which  seems  to  vegetate  in  the  soul  rather  than 
to  live. 

I  have  known  of  societies  formed  by  the  Americans  to  send 
out  ministers  of  the  gospel  into  the  new  western  states,  to 
found  schools  and  churches  there,  lest  religion  should  be  suf 
fered  to  die  away  in  those  remote  settlements,  and  the  rising 
states  be  less  fitted  to  enjoy  free  institutions  than  the  people 
from  which  they  emanated.  I  met  with  wealthy  New  Eng- 
landers  who  abandoned  the  country  in  which  they  were  born, 
in  order  to  lay  the  foundations  of  Christianity  and  of  freedom 
on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  or  in  the  prairies  of  Illinpis. 
Thus  religious  zeal  is  perpetually  stimulated  in  the  United 
States  by  the  duties  of  patriotism.  These  men  do  not  act 
from  an  exclusive  consideration  of  the  promises  of  a  future 
life  ;  eternity  is  only  one  motive  of  their  devotion  to  the 
cause  ;  and  if  you  converse  with  these  missionaries  of  Chris 
tian  civilisation,  you  will  be  surprised  to  find  how  much  value 
they  set  upon  the  goods  of  this  world,  and  that  you  meet  with 
a  politician  where  you  expected  to  find  a  priest.  They  will 
tell  you  that  "  all  the  American  republics  are  collectively 
involved  with  each  other ;  if  the  republics  of  the  west  were 
to  fall  into  anarchy,  or  to  be  mastered  by  a  despot,  the  repub 
lican  institutions  which  now  flourish  upon  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic  ocean  would  be  in  great  peril.  It  is  therefore  our 
interest  that  the  new  states  should  be  religious,  in  order  to 
maintain  our  liberties." 

Such  are  the  opinions  of  the  Americans ;  and  if  any  hold 
that  the  religious  spirit  which  I  admire  is  the  very  thing  most 
amiss  in  America,  and  that  the  only  element  wanting  to  the 
freedom  and  happiness  of  the  human  race  is  to  believe  in 
some  blind  cosmogony,  or  to  assert  with  Cabanis  the  secre 
tion  of  thought  by  the  brain,  I  can  only  reply,  that  those  who 
hold  this  language  have  never  been  in  America,  and  that  they 
have  never  seen  a  religious  or  a  free  nation.  When  they 
return  from  their  expedition,  we  shall  hear  what  they  have  to 
say. 

There  are  persons  in  France  who  look  upon  republican 
institutions  as  a  temporary  means  of  power,  of  wealth  and 
distinction  ;  men  who  are  the  condottieri  of  liberty,  and  who 
fight  for  their  own  advantage,  whatever  be  the  colors  they 
wear  :  it  is  not  to  these  that  I  address  myself.  But  there  are 


312  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

others  who  look  forward  to  the  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment  as  a  tranquil  and  lasting  state,  toward  which  modern 
society  is  daily  impelled  by  the  ideas  and  manners  of  the 
time,  and  who  sincerely  desire  to  prepare  men  to  be  free. 
When  these  men  attack  religious  opinions,  they  obey  the  dic 
tates  of  their  passions  to  the  prejudice  of  their  interests. 
Despotism  may  govern  without  faith,  but  liberty  cannot.  Re 
ligion  is  much  more  necessary  in  the  republic  which  they  set 
forth  in  glowing  colors,  than  in  the  monarchy  which  they 
attack  ;  and  it  is  more  needed  in  democratic  republics  than 
in  any  others.  How  is  it  possible  that  society  should  escape 
destruction  if  the  moral  tie  be  not  strengthened  in  proportion 
as  the  political  tie  is  relaxed  ?  and  what  can  be  done  with  a 
people  which  is  its  own  master,  if  it  be  not  submissive  to  the 
Divinity  ? 


PRINCIPAL     CAUSES   WHICH     RENDER     RELIGION     POWERFUL     IN 
AMERICA. 

Care  taken  by  the  Americans  to  separate  the  Church  from  the  State. — 
The  Laws,  public  Opinion,  and  even  the  Exertions  of  the  Clergy 
concur  to  promote  this  end. — Influence  of  Religion  upon  the  Mind, 
in  the  United  States,  attributable  to  this  Cause. — Reason  of  this. — 
What  is  the  natural  State  of  Men  with  regard  to  Religion  at  the 
present  time. — What  are  the  peculiar  and  incidental  Causes  which 
prevent  Men,  in  certain  Countries,  from  arriving  at  this  State. 

THE  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century  explained  the 
gradual  decay  of  religious  faith  in  a  very  simple  manner. 
Religious  zeal,  said  they,  must  necessarily  fail,  the  more  gen 
erally  liberty  is  established  and  knowledge  diffused.  Unfor 
tunately,  facts  are  by  no  means  in  accordance  with  their  the 
ory.  There  are  certain  populations  in  Europe  wh.ose  unbe 
lief  is  only  equalled  by  their  ignorance  and  their  debase 
ment,  while  in  America  one  of  the  freest  and  most  enlightened 
nations  in  the  world  fulfils  all  the  outward  duties  of  religion 
with  fervor. 

Upon  my  arrival  in  the  United  States,  the  religious  aspect 
of  the  country  was  the  first  thing  that  struck  my  attention ; 
and  the  longer  I  stayed  there,  the  more  did  I  perceive  the 
great  political  consequences  resulting  from  this  state  of  things, 
to  which  I  was  unaccustomed.  In  France  I  had  almost  al 
ways  seen  the  spirit  of  religion  and  the  spirit  of  freedom  pur 
suing  courses  diametrically  opposed  to  each  other ;  but  in 

' 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  REPUBLIC.  313 

America  I  found  that  they  were  intimately  united,  and  that 
they  reigned  in  common  over  the  same  country.  My  desire 
to  discover  the  causes  of  this  phenomenon  increased  from 
day  to  day.  In  order  to  satisfy  it,  I  questioned  the  members 
of  all  the  different  sects  ;  and  I  more  especially  sought  the 
society  of  the  clergy,  who  are  the  depositaries  of  the  different 
persuasions,  and  who  are  more  especially  interested  in  their 
duration.  As  a  member  of  the  Roman  catholic  church  I  was 
more  particularly  brought  into  contact  with  several  of  its 
priests,  with  whom  I  became  intimately  acquainted.  To  each 
of  these  men  I  expressed  my  astonishment  and  I  explained 
my  doubts :  I  found  that  they  differed  upon  matters  of  detail 
alone  ;  and  that  they  mainly  attributed  the  peaceable  do 
minion  of  religion  in  their  country,  to  the  separation  of  church 
and  state.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  during  my  stay  in 
America,  I  did  not  meet  with  a  single  individual,  of  the  clergy 
or  of  the  laity,  who  was  not  of  the  same  opinion  upon  this 
point. 

This  led  me  to  examine  more  attentively  than  I  had  hith 
erto  done,  the  station  which  the  American  clergy  occupy  in 
political  society.  I  learned  with  surprise  that  they  fill  no 
public  appointments  ;*  not  one  of  them  is  to  be  met  with  in 
the  administration,  and  they  are  not  even  represented  in  the 
legislative  assemblies.  In  several  states^  the  law  excludes 
them  from  political  life  ;  public  opinion  in  all.  And  when  I 
came  to  inquire  into  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  clergy,  I  found 
that  most  of  its  members  seemed  to  retire  of  their  own  ac 
cord  from  the  exercise  of  power,  and  that  they  made  it  the 
pride  of  their  profession  to  abstain  from  politics. 

I  heard  them  inveigh  against  ambition  and  deceit,  under 
whatever  political  opinions  these  vices  might  chance  to  lurk  ; 
but  I  learned  from  their  discourses  that  men  are  not  guilty  in 
the  eye  of  God  for  any  opinions  concerning  political  govern 
ment,  which  they  may  profess  with  sincerity,  any  more  than 

*  Unless  this  term  be  applied  to  the  functions  which  many  of  them 
fill  in  the  schools.  Almost  all  education  is  intrusted  to  the  clergy. 

f  See  the  constitution  of  New  York,  art.  7,  §  4 : — 

"  And  whereas,  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  are,  by  their  profession, 
dedicated  to  the  service  of  God  and  the  care  of  souls,  and  ought  not  to 
be  diverted  from  the  great  duties  of  their  functions  ;  therefore  no  min 
ister  of  the  gospel,  or  priest  of  any  denomination  whatsoever,  shall,  at 
any  time  hereafter,  under  any  pretence  or  description  whatever,  be 
eligible  to,  or  capable  of  holding  any  civil  or  military  office  or  place 
within  this  state." 

See  also  the  constitutions  of  North  Carolina,  art.  31.  Virginia. 
South  Carolina,  art.  1,  §  23.  Kentucky,  art.  2,  §  26.  Tennessee,  art 
3,  §  1.  Louisiana,  art.  2,  §  22. 


314  CAUSES    TENDING   TO    MAINTAIN 

they  are  for  their  mistakes  in  building  a  house  or  in  drivir  ^ 
a  furrow.  I  perceived  that  these  ministers  of  the  gospel  es 
chewed  all  parties,  with  the  anxiety  attendant  upon  personal 
interest.  These  facts  convinced  me  that  what  I  had  been 
told  was  true ;  and  it  then  became  my  object  to  investigate 
their  causes,  and  to  inquire  how  it  happened  that  the  real  au 
thority  of  religion  was  increased  by  a  state  of  things  which 
diminished  its  apparent  force  :  these  causes  did  not  long  es 
cape  my  researches. 

The  short  space  of  threescore  years  can  never  content  the 
imagination  of  man  ;  nor  can  the  imperfect  joys  of  this  world 
satisfy  his  heart.  Man  alone,  of  all  created  beings,  displays 
a  natural  contempt  of  existence,  and  yet  a  boundless  desire 
to  exist ;  he  scorns  life,  but  he  dreads  annihilation.  These 
different  feelings  incessantly  urge  his  soul  to  the  contem 
plation  of  a  future  state,  and  religion  directs  his  musings 
thither.  Religion,  then,  is  simply  another  form  of  hope  ; 
and  it  is  no  less  natural  to  the  human  heart  than  hope  itself. 
Men  cannot  abandon  their  religious  faith  without  a  kind  of 
aberration  of  intellect,  and  a  sort  of  violent  distortion  of  their 
true  natures ;  but  they  are  invincibly  brought  back  to  more 
pious  sentiments  ;  for  unbelief  is  an  accident,  and  faith  is  the 
only  permanent  state  of  mankind.  If  we  only  consider  reli 
gious  institutions  in  a  purely  human  point  of  view,  they  may 
be  said  to  derive  an  inexhaustible  element  of  strength  from 
man  himself,  since  they  belong  to  one  of  the  constituent  prin 
ciples  of  human  nature. 

I  am  aware  that  at  certain  times  religion  may  strengthen 
this  influence,  which  originates  in  itself,  by  the  artificial  power 
of  the  laws,  and  by  the  support  of  those  temporal  institutions 
which  direct  society.  Religions,  intimately  united  to  the  gov 
ernments  of  the  earth,  have  been  known  to  exercise  a  sove 
reign  authority  derived  from  the  twofold  source  of  terror  and 
of  faith  ;  but  when  a  religion  contracts  an  alliance  of  this 
nature,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  it  commits  the  same 
error,  as  a  man  who  should  sacrifice  his  future  to  his  present 
welfare  ;  and  in  obtaining  a  power  to  which  it  has  no  claim, 
it  risks  that  authority  which  is  rightfully  its  own.  When  a 
religion  founds  its  empire  upon  the  desire  of  immortality 
which  lives  in  every  human  heart,  it  may  aspire  to  universal 
dominion  :  but  when  it  connects  itself  with  a  government,  it 
must  necessarily  adopt  maxims  which  are  only  applicable  to 
certain  nations.  Thus,  in  forming  an  alliance  with  a  politi 
cal  power,  religion  augments  its  authority  over  a  few,  and 
forfeits  the  hope  of  reigning  over  all. 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  315 

As  long  as  a  religion  rests  upon  those  sentiments  which  are 
the  consolation  of  all  affliction,  it  may  attract  the  affections 
of  mankind.  But  if  it  be  mixed  up  with  the  bitter  passions 
of  the  world,  it  may  be  constrained  to  defend  allies  whom  its 
interests,  and  not  the  principle  of  love,  have  given  to  it ; 
or  to  repel  as  antagonists  men  who  are  still  attached  to  its 
own  spirit,  however  opposed  they  may  be  to  the  powers  to 
which  it  is  allied.  The  church  cannot  share  the  temporal 
power  of  the  state,  without  being  the  object  of  a  portion  of 
that  animosity  which  the  latter  excites. 

The  political  powers  which  seem  to  be  most  firmly  estab- 
lished  have  frequently  no  better  guarantee  for  their  duration, 
than  the  opinions  of  a  generation,  the  interests  of  the  time,  01 
the  life  of  an  individual.  A  law  may  modify  the  social  con- 
dition  which  seems  to  be  most  fixed  and  determinate  ;  and 
with  the  social  condition  everything  else  must  change.  The 
powers  of  society  are  more  or  less  fugitive,  like  the  years 
which  we  spend  upon  the  earth ;  they  succeed  each  other 
with  rapidity  like  the  fleeting  cares  of  life ;  and  no  govern 
ment  has  ever  yet  been  founded  upon  an  invariable  disposi 
tion  of  the  human  heart,  or  upon  an  imperishable  interest. 

As  long  as  religion  is  sustained  by  those  feelings,  propen 
sities,  and  passions,  which  are  found  to  occur  under  the  same 
forms  at  all  the  different  periods  of  history,  it  may  defy  the 
efforts  of  time  ;  or  at  least  it  can  only  be  destroyed  by  another 
religion.  But  when  religion  clings  to  the  interests  of  the 
world,  it  becomes  almost  as  fragile  a  thing  as  the  powers  of 
the  earth.  It  is  the  only  one  of  them  all  which  can  hope  :  r 
immortality  ;  but  if  it  be  connected  with  their  ephemeral  au 
thority,  it  shares  their  fortunes,  and  may  fall  with  those  tran 
sient  passions  which  supported  them  for  a  day.  The  alliance 
which  religion  contracts  with  political  powers  must  needs  be 
onerous  to  itself;  since  it  does  not  require  their  assistance  to 
live,  and  by  giving  them  its  assistance  it  may  be  exposed  to 
decay. 

The  danger  which  I  have  just  pointed  out  always  exists, 
but  it  is  not  always  equally  visible.  In  some  ages  govern 
ments  seem  to  be  imperishable,  in  others  the  existence  of 
society  appears  to  be  more  precarious  than  the  life  of  man. 
Some  constitutions  plunge  the  citizens  into  a  lethargic  som 
nolence,  and  others  rouse  them  to  feverish  excitement.  When 
government  appears  to  be  so  strong,  and  laws  so  stable,  men 
do  not  perceive  the  dangers  which  may  accrue  from  a  union 
of  church  and  state.  When  governments  display  so  much 
inconstancy,  the  danger  is  self-evident,  but  it  is  no  longer 


316  CAUSES   TENDING-   TC    MAINTAIN 

possible  to  avoid  it ;  to  be  effectual,  measures  must  be  taken 
to  discover  its  approach. 

In  proportion  as  a  nation  assumes  a  democratic  condition 
of  society,  and  as  communities  display  democratic  propensi 
ties,  it  becomes  more  and  more  dangerous  to  connect  religion 
with  political  institutions ;  for  the  time  is  coming  when  au 
thority  will  be  bandied  from  hand  to  hand,  when  political 
theories  will  succeed  each  other,  and  when  men,  laws  and 
constitutions,  will  disappear  or  be  modified  from  day  to  day, 
and  this  not  for  a  season  only,  but  unceasingly.  Agitation 
and  mutability  are  inherent  in  the  nature  of  democratic  re 
publics,  just  as  stagnation  and  inertness  are  the  law  of  abso 
lute  monarchies. 

If  the  Americans,  who  change  the  head  of  the  government 
once  in  four  years,  who  elect  new  legislators  every  two  years, 
and  renew  the  provincial  officers  every  twelvemonth  ;  if  the 
Americans,  who  have  abandoned  the  political  world  to  the 
attempts  of  innovators,  had  not  placed  religion  beyond  their 
reach,  where  could  it  abide  in  the  ebb  and  flow  of  human 
opinions  ?  where  would  that  respect  which  belongs  to  it  be 
paid,  amid  the  struggles  of  faction  ?  and  what  would  become 
of  its  immortality  in  the  midst  of  perpetual  decay  ?  The 
American  clergy  were  the  first  to  perceive  this  truth,  and  to 
act  in  conformity  with  it.  They  saw  that  they  must  renounce 
their  religious  influence,  if  they  were  to  strive  for  political 
power  ;  and  they  chose  to  give  up  the  support  of  the  state, 
rather  than  to  share  in  its  vicissitudes. 

In  America,  religion  is  perhaps  less  powerful  than  it  has 
been  at  certain  periods  in  the  .history  of  certain  peoples  ;  but 
its  influence  is  more  lasting.  It  restricts  itself  to  its  own  re 
sources,  but  of  those  none  can  deprive  it :  its  circle  is  limited 
to  certain  principles,  but  those  principles  are  entirely  its  own, 
and  under  its  undisputed  control. 

On  every  side  in  Europe  we  hear  voices  complaining  of 
the  absence  of  religious  faith,  and  inquiring  the  means  of 
restoring  to  religion  some  remnant  of  its  pristine  authority. 
It  seems  to  me  that  we  must  first  attentively  consider  what 
ought  to  be  the  natural  state  of  men  with  regard  to  religion, 
at  the  present  time  ;  and  when  we  know  what  we  have  to 
hope  and  to  fear,  we  may  discern  the  end  to  which  our  efforts 
ought  to  be  directed. 

The  two  great  dangers  which  threaten  the  existence  of  re 
ligions  are  schism  and  indifference.  In  ages  of  fervent 
devotion,  men  sometimes  abandon  their  religion,  but  they  only 
shake  it  off  in  order  to  adopt  another.  Their  faith  changes 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  317 

the  objects  to  which  it  is  directed,  but  it  suffers  no  decline. 
The  old  religion,  then,  excites  enthusiastic  attachment  or  bit 
ter  enmity  in  either  party ;  some  leave  it  with  anger,  others 
cling  to  it  with  increased  devotedness,  and  although  persua 
sions  differ,  irreligion  is  unknown.  Such,  however,  is  not 
the  case  when  a  religious  belief  is  secretly  undermined  by 
doctrines  which  may  be  termed  negative,  since  they  deny  the 
cruth  of  one  religion  without  affirming  that  of  any  other. 
Prodigious  revolutions  then  take  place  in  the  human  mind, 
without  the  apparent  co-operation  of  the  passions  of  man,  and 
almost  without  his  knowledge.  Men  lose  the  object  of  their 
fondest  hopes,  as  if  through  forgetfulness.  They  are  carried 
away  by  an  imperceptible  current  which  they  have  not  the 
courage  to  stem,  but  which  they  follow  with  regret,  since  it 
bears  them  from  a  faith  they  love,  to  a  scepticism  that  plunges 
them  into  despair. 

In  ages  which  answer  to  this  description,  men  desert  their 
religious  opinions  from  lukewarmness  rather  than  from  dis 
like  ;  they  do  not  reject  them,  but  the  sentiments  by  which 
they  were  once  fostered  disappear.  But  if  the  unbeliever 
does  not  admit  religion  to  be  true,  he  still  considers  it  useful. 
Regarding  religious  institutions  in  a  human  point  of  view,  he 
acknowledges  their  influence  upon  manners  and  legislation. 
He  admits  that  they  may  serve  to  make  men  live  in  peace 
with  one  another  and  to  prepare  them  gently  for  the  hour  of 
death.  He  regrets  the  faith  which  he  has  lost ;  and  as  he  is 
deprived  of  a  treasure  which  he  has  learned  to  estimate  at  its 
full  value,  he  scruples  to  take  it  from  those  who  still  pos 
sess  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  continue  to  believe,  are  not 
afraid  openly  to  avow  their  faith.  They  look  upon  those  who 
do  not  share  their  persuasion  as  more  worthy  of  pity  than  of 
opposition ;  and  they  are  aware,  that  to  acquire  the  esteem 
of  the  unbelieving,  they  are  not  obliged  to  follow  their 
example.  They  are  hostile  to  no  one  in  the  world ;  and  as 
they  do  not  consider  the  society  in  which  they  live  as  an 
arena  in  which  religion  is  bound  to  face  its  thousand  deadly 
foes,  they  love  their  contemporaries,  while  they  condemn 
their  weaknesses,  and  lament  their  errors. 

As  those  who  do  notbelieve,  conceal  their  incredulity  ;  and 
as  those  who  believe,  display  their  faith,  public  opinion  pro 
nounces  itself  in  favor  of  religion :  love,  support,  and  honor, 
are  bestowed  upon  it,  and  it  is  only  by  searching  the  human 
soul,  that  we  can  detect  the  wounds  which  it  has  received. 
The  mass  of  mankind,  who  are  never  without  the  feeling  of 


318  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

religion,  do  not  perceive  anything  at  variance  with  the  esta- 
Wished  faith.  The  instinctive  desire  of  a  future  life  brings 
the. crowd  about  the  altar,  and  opens  the  hearts  of  men  io  the 
precepts  and  consolations  of  religion. 

But  this  picture  is  not  applicable  to  us  ;  for  there  are  men 
among  us  who  have  ceased  to  believe  in  Christianity,  withou* 
adopting  any  other  religion  ;  others  who  are  in  the  perplexi 
ties  of  doubt,  and  who  already  affect  not  to  believe ;  and 
others,  again,  who  are  afraid  to  avow  that  Christian  faith 
which  they  still  cherish  in  secret. 

Amid  these  lukewarm  partisans  and  ardent  antagonists,  a 
small  number  of  believers  exist,  who  are  ready  to  brave  all 
obstacles,  and  to  scorn  all  dangers  in  defence  of  their  faith. 
They  have  done  violence  to  human  weakness,  in  order  to 
rise  superior  to  public  opinion.  Excited  by  the  effort  they 
have  made,  they  scarcely  know  where  to  stop  ;  and  as  they 
know  that  the  first  use  which  the  French  made  of  independ 
ence,  was  to  attack  religion,  they  look  upon  their  contempo 
raries  with  dread,  and  they  recoil  in  alarm  from  the  liberty 
which  their  fellow-citizens  are  seeking  to  obtain.  As  unbe 
lief  appears  to  them  to  be  a  novelty,  they  comprise  all  that  is 
new  in  one  indiscriminate  animosity.  They  are  at  war  with 
their  age  and  country,  and  they  look  upon  every  opinion 
which  is  put  forth  there  as  the  necessary  enemy  of  the  faith. 

Such  is  not  the  natural  state  of  men  with  regard  to  religion 
at  the  present  day ;  and  some  extraordinary  or  incidental 
cause  must  be  at  work  in  France,  to  prevent  the  human  mind 
from  following  its  original  propensities,  and  to  drive  it  beyond 
the  limits  at  which  it  ought  naturally  to  stop. 

I  am  intimately  convinced  that  this  extraordinary  and  inci 
dental  cause  is  the  close  connexion  of  politics  and  religion. 
The  unbelievers  of  Europe  attack  the  Christians  as  their  po 
litical  opponents,  rather  than  as  their  religious  adversaries; 
they  hate  the  Christian  religion  as  the  opinion  of  a  party, 
much  more  than  as  an  error  of  belief;  and  they  reject  the 
clergy  less  because  they  are  the  representatives  of  the  Divin 
ity,  than  because  they  are  the  allies  of  authority. 

In  Europe,  Christianity  has  been  intimately  united  to  the 
powers  of  the  earth.  Those  powers  are  now  in  decay,  and  it 
is,  as  it  were,  buried  under  their  ruins.  The  living  body  of 
religion  has  been  bound  down  to  the  dead  corpse  of  superan 
nuated  polity  ;  cut  the  bonds  which  restrain  it,  and  that  which 
is  alive  will  rise  once  more.  I  know  not  what  could  restore 
the  Christian  church  of  Europe  to  the  energy  of  its  earlier 
days ;  that  power  belongs  to  God  alone ;  but  it  may  be  the 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  319 

effect  of  human  policy  to  leave  the  faith  in  all  the  full  exer 
cise  of  the  strength  which  it  still  retains. 


HOW  THE  INSTRUCTION,  THE  HABITS,  AND  THE  PRACTICAL  EX 
PERIENCE  OF  THE  AMERICANS  PROMOTE  THE  SUCCESS  OF 
THEIR  DEMOCRATIC  INSTITUTIONS. 

What  is  to  be  understood  by  the  instruction  of  the  American  People. — 
The  human  Mind  is  more  superficially  instructed  in  the  United  States 
than  in  Europe. — No  one  completely  uninstructed. — Reason  of  this 
Rapidity  with  which  Opinions  are  diffused  even  in  the  uncultivated 
States  of  the  West. — Practical  Experience  more  serviceable  to  the 
Americans  than  Book-learning. 

I  HAVE  but  little  to  add  to  what  I  have  already  said,  concern 
ing  the  influence  which  the  instruction  and  the  habits  of  the 
Americans  exercise  upon  the  maintenance  of  their  political 
institutions. 

America  has  hitherto  produced  very  few  writers  of  distinc 
tion  ;  it  possesses  no  great  historians,  and  not  a  single  eminent 
poet.  The  inhabitants  of  that  country  look  upon  what  are 
properly  styled  literary  pursuits  with  a  kind  of  disapproba 
tion  ;  and  there  are  towns  of  very  second  rate  importance  in 
Europe,  in  which  more  literary  works  are  annually  publish 
ed,  than  in  the  twenty-four  states  of  the  Union  put  together. 
The  spirit  of  the  Americans  is  averse  to  general  ideas  ;  and 
it  does  not  seek  theoretical  discoveries.  Neither  politics  nor 
manufactures  direct  them  to  these  occupations ;  and  although 
new  laws  are  perpetually  enacted  in  the  United  States,  no 
great  writers  have  hitherto  inquired  into  the  principles  of  their 
legislation.  The  Americans  have  lawyers  and  commenta 
tors,  but  no  jurists  ;  and  they  furnish  examples  rather  than 
lessons  to  the  world.  The  same  observation  applies  to  the 
mechanical  arts.  In  America,  the  inventions  of  Europe  are 
adopted  with  sagacity;  they  are  perfected,  and  adapted  with 
admirable  skill  to  the  wants  of  the  country.  Manufactures 
exist,  but  the  science  of  manufacture  is  not  cultivated ;  and 
they  have  good  workmen,  but  very  few  inventors.  Fulton 
was  obliged  to  proffer  his  services  to  foreign  nations  for  a  long 
time  before  he  was  able  to  devote  them  to  his  own  country. 

[The  remark  that  in  America  "  there  are  very  good  workmen  but 
very  few  inventors,"  will  excite  surprise  in  this  country.  The  invent 
ive  character  of  Fulton  he  seems  to  admit,  but  would  apparently  de 
prive  us  of  the  credit  of  his  name,  by  the  remark  that  he  was  obliged 
to  proffer  his  services  to  foreign  nations  for  a  long  time.  He  might 


320  CAUSES    TENDING    TO    MAINTAIN 

have  added,  that  those  proffers  were  disregarded  and  neglect 
ed,  and  that  it  was  finally  in  his  own  country  that  he  found  the  aid 
necessary  to  put  in  execution  his  great  project.  If  there  be 
patronage  extended  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  any  one 
thing  in  preference  to  another,  it  is  to-  the  results  of  inventive  genius. 
Surely  Franklin,  Rittenhouse,  and  Perkins,  have  been  heard  of  by  our 
author ;  and  he  must  have  heard  something  of  that  wonderful  inven 
tion,  the  cotton-gin  of  Whitney,  and  of  the  machines  for  making  cards 
to  comb  wool.  The  original  machines  of  Fulton  for  the  application  of 
steam  have  been  constantly  improving,  so  that  there  is  scarcely  a  ves 
tige  of  them  remaining.  But  to  sum  up  the  whole  in  one  word,  can  it 
be  possible  that  our  author  did  not  visit  the  patent  office  at  Washing 
ton  ?  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  utility  of  nine-tenths  of  the  in 
ventions  of  which  the  descriptions  and  models  are  there  deposited,  no 
one  who  has  ever  seen  that  depository,  or  who  has  read  a  description 
of  its  contents,  can  doubt  that  they  furnish  the  most  incontestible  evi 
dence  of  extraordinary  inventive  genius — a  genius  that  has  excited  the 
astonishment  of  other  European  travellers.— American  Editor.'} 

The  observer  who  is  desirous  of  forming  an  opinion  on  the 
state  of  instruction  among  the  Anglo-Americans,  must  con 
sider  the  same  object  from  two  different  points  of  view.  If 
he  only  singles  out  the  learned,  he  will  be  astonished  to  find 
how  rare  they  are ;  but  if  he  counts  the  ignorant,  the  Ame 
rican  people  will  appear  to  be  the  most  enlightened  commu 
nity  in  the  world.  The  whole  population,  as  I  observed  in 
another  place,  is  situated  between  these  two  extremes. 

In  New  England,  every  citizen  receives  the  elementary 
notions  of  human  knowledge  ;  he  is  moreover  taught  the  doc 
trines  and  the  evidences  of  his  religion,  the  history  of  his 
country,  and  the  leading  features  of  its  constitution.  In  the 
states  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  it  is  extremely  rare 
to  find  a  man  imperfectly  acquainted  with  all  these  things, 
and  a  person  wholly  ignorant  of  them  is  a  sort  of  pheno 
menon. 

When  I  compare  the  Greek  and  Roman  republics  with 
these  American  states ;  the  manuscript  libraries  of  the  for 
mer,  and  their  rude  population,  with  the  innumerable  journals 
and  the  enlightened  people  of  the  latter ;  when  I  remember 
all  the  attempts  which  are  made  to  judge  the  modern  repub 
lics  by  the  assistance  of  those  of  antiquity,  and  to  infer  what 
will  happen  in  our  time  from  what  took  place  two  thousand 
years  ago,  I  am  tempted  to  burn  my  books,  in  order  to  apply 
none  but  novel  ideas  to  so  novel  a  condition  of  society. 

What  I  have  said  of  New  England  must  not,  however,  be 
applied  indiscriminately  to  the  whole  Union :  as  we  advance 
towards  the  west  or  the  south,  the  instruction  of  the  people 
diminishes.  In  the  states  which  are  adjacent  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  a  certain  number  of  individuals  may  be  found,  as  in 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  321 

our  own  countries,  who  are  devoid  of  the  rudiments  of  in 
struction.  But  there  is  not  a  single  district  in  the  United 
States  sunk  in  complete  ignorance ;  and  for  a  very  simple 
reason ;  the  peoples  of  Europe  started  from  the  darkness  of 
a  barbarous  condition  to  advance  toward  the  light  of  civilisa 
tion  ;  their  progress  has  been  unequal ;  some  of  them  have 
improved  apace,  while  others  have  loitered  in  their  course, 
and  some  have  stopped,  and  are  still  sleeping  upon  the  way. 

Such  has  not  been  the  case  in  the  United  States.  The 
Anglo-Americans  settled  in  a  state  of  civilisation,  upon  that 
territory  which  their  descendants  occupy ;  they  had  not  to 
begin  to  learn,  and  it  was  sufficient  not  to  forget.  Now  the 
children  of  these  same  Americans  are  the  persons  who,  year 
by  year,  transport  their  dwellings  into  the  wilds :  and  with 
their  dwellings  their  acquired  information  and  their  esteem 
for  knowledge.  Education  has  taught  them  the  utility  of  in 
struction,  and  has  enabled  them  to  transmit  that  instruction 
to  their  posterity.  In  the  United  States  society  has  no  infancy, 
but  it  is  born  in  man's  estate. 

The  Americans  never  use  the  word  "  peasant,"  because 
they  have  no  idea  of  the  peculiar  class  which  that  term  de 
notes  ;  the  ignorance  of  more  remote  ages,  the  simplicity  of 
rural  life,  and  the  rusticity  of  the  villager,  have  not  been 
preserved  among  them ;  and  they  arc  alike  unacquainted 
with  the  virtues,  the  vices,  the  coarse  habits,  and  the  simple 
graces  of  an  early  stage  of  civilisation.  At  the  extreme 
borders  of  the  confederate  states,  upon  the  confines  of  society 
and  of  the  wilderness,  a  population  of  bold  adventurers  have 
taken  up  their  abode,  who  pierce  the  solitudes  of  the  Ameri 
can  woods,  and  seek  a  country  there,  in  order  to  escape  that 
poverty  which  awaited  them  in  their  native  provinces.  As 
soon  as  the  pioneer  arrives  upon  the  spot  which  is  to  serve 
him  for  a  retreat,  he  fells  a  few  trees  and  builds  a  log-house. 
Nothing  can  offer  a  more  miserable  aspect  than  these  isolated 
dwellings.  The  traveller  who  approaches  one  of  them  to 
ward  night-fall,  sees  the  flicker  of  the  hearth-flame  through 
the  chinks  in  the  walls ;  and  at  night,  if  the  wind  rises,  he 
hears  the  roof  of  boughs  shake  to  and  fro  in  the  midst  of  the 
great  forest  trees.  Who  would  not  suppose  that  this  poor 
hut  is  the  asylum  of  rudeness  and  ignorance  1  Yet  no  sort 
of  comparison  can  be  drawn  between  the  pioneer  and  the 
dwelling  which  shelters  him.  Everything  about  him  is  prim 
itive  and  unformed,  but  he  is  himself  the  result  of  the  labor 
and  the  experience  of  eighteen  centuries.  He  wears  the 
dross,  and  he  speaks  the  language  of  cities  ;  he  is  acquainted 
21 


322  CAUSES    TENDING    TO   MAINTAIN 

with  the  past,  curious  of  the  future,  and  ready  for  argument 
upon  the  present ;  he  is,  in  short,  a  highly  civilized  being, 
who  consents,  for  a  time,  to  inhabit  the  back- woods,  and  who 
penetrates  into  the  wilds  of  a  New  World  with  the  Bible,  an 
axe,  and  a  file  of  newspapers. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  the  incredible  rapidity  with  which 
public  opinion  circulates  in  the  midst  of  these  deserts.*  Tdo 
not  think  that  so  much  intellectual  intercourse  takes  place  in 
the  most  enlightened  and  populous  districts  of  France. f  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that  in  the  United  States,  the  instruction  of 
the  people  powerfully  contributes  to  the  support  of  a  demo 
cratic  republic  ;  and  such  must  always  be  the  case,  I  believe, 
where  instruction,  which  awakens  the  understanding,  is  not 
separated  from  moral  education  which  amends  the  heart. 
But  I  by  no  means  exaggerate  this  benefit,  and  I  am  still 
farther  from  thinking,  as  so  many  people  do  think  in  Europe, 
that  men  can  be  instantaneously  made  citizens  by  teaching 
them  to  read  and  write.  True  information  is  mainly  derived 
from  experience,  and  if  the  Americans  had  not  been  gradually 
accustomed  to  govern  themselves,  their  book-learning  would 
not  assist  them  much  at  the  present  day. 

I  have  lived  a  great  deal  with  the  people  in  the  United 
States,  and  I  cannot  express  how  much  I  admire  their  expe 
rience  and  their  good  sense.  An  American  should  never  be 
allowed  to  speak  of  Europe  ;  for  he  will  then  probably  display 
a  vast  deal  of  presumption  and  very  foolish  pride.  He  will 

*  I  travelled  along  a  portion  of  the  frontier  of  the  United  States  in 
a  sort  of  cart  which  was  termed  the  mail.  We  passed,  day  and  night, 
with  great  rapidity  along  roads  which  were  scarcely  marked  out, 
through  immense  forests  :  when  the  gloom  of  the  woods  became  im 
penetrable,  the  coachman  lighted  branches  of  fir  and  we  journied  along 
by  the  light  they  cast.  From  time  to  time  we  came  to  a  hut  in  the 
midst  of  the  forest,  which  was  a  postoffice.  The  mail  dropped  an 
enormous  bundle  of  letters  at  the  door  of  this  isolated  dwelling,  and 
we  pursued  our  way  at  full  gallop,  leaving  the  inhabitants  of  the  neigh 
boring  log-houses  to  send  fo»-  their  share  of  the  treasure. 

*•  Tn  183<:,  each  inhaoitant  of  Miclfigan  paid  a  sum  equivalent  to  1 
franc,  22  centimes  (French  money)  to  the  postoffice  revenue ;  and  each 
inhabitant  of  the  Floridas  paid  1  fr.  5  cent  (See  National  Calendar, 
1833,  p.  244.)  In  the  same  year  each  inhabitant  of  the  department  du 
Nord,  paid  1  fr.  4  cent,  to  the  revenue  of  trie  French  postoffice.  (See 
*.he  Compte  rendu  de  1'Administration  des  Finances,  1833,  p.  023.) 
Now  the  state  of  Michigan  only  contained  at  that  time  7  inhabitants 
per  square  league ;  and  Florida  only  5  ;  the  instruction  and  the  com 
mercial  activity  of  these  districts  are  inferior  to  those  of  most  of  the 
states  in  the  Union ;  while  the  department  du  Nord,  which  contains 
3,400  inhabitants  per  square  league,  is  one  of  the  most  enlightened 
and  manufacturing  parts  of  France. 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC. 


lake  up  with  those  crude  and  vague  notions  which  are  so 
useful  to  the  ignorant  all  over  the  world.  But  if  you  question 
him  respecting  his  own  country,  the  cloud  which  dimmed  his 
intelligence  will  immediately  disperse  ;  his  language  will  be 
come  as  clear  ancl  as  precise  as  his  thoughts.  He  will  inform 
you  what  his  rights  are,  and  by  what  means  he  exercises 
them  ;  he  will  be  able  to  point  out  the  customs  which  obtain 
in  the  political  world.  You  will  find  that  he  is  well  acquainted 
with  the  rules  of  the  administration,  and  that  he  is  familiar 
with  the  mechanism  of  the  laws.  The  citizen  of  the  United 
States  does  not  acquire  his  practical  science  and  his  positive 
notions  from  books  ;  the  instruction  he  has  acquired  may  have 
prepared  him  for  receiving  those  ideas,  but  it  did  not  furnish 
them.  The  American  learns  to  know  the  laws  by  participat 
ing  in  the  act  of  legislation  ;  and  he  takes  a  lesson  in  the 
forms  of  government,  from  governing.  The  great  work  of 
society  is  ever  going  on  beneath  his  eyes,  and,  as  it  were, 
under  his  hands. 

In  the  United  States  politics  are  the  end  and  aim  of  educa 
tion  ;  in  Europe  its  principal  object  is  to  fit  men  for  private 
life.  The  interference  of  the  citizens  in  public  affairs  is  too 
rare  an  occurrence  for  it  to  be  anticipated  beforehand.  Upon 
casting  a  glance  over  society  in  the  two  hemispheres,  these 
differences  are  indicated  even  by  its  external  aspect. 

In  Europe,  we  frequently  introduce  the  ideas  and  the 
habits  of  private  life  into  public  affairs  ;  and  as  we  pass  at 
once  from  the  domestic  circle  to  the  government  of  the  state, 
we  may  frequently  be  heard  to  discuss  the  great  interests  of 
society  in  the  same  manner  in  which  we  converse  with  our 
friends.  The  Americans,  on  the  other  hand,  transfuse  the 
habits  of  public  life  into  their  manners  in  private  ;  and  in 
their  country  the  jury  is  introduced  into  the  games  of  school 
boys,  and  parliamentary  forms  are  observed  in  the  order  of 
a  feast. 


324  CAUSES    TENDING   TO    MAINTAIN 


THE  LAWS  CONTRIBUTE  MORE  TO  THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  THE 
DEMOCRATIC  REPUBLIC  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  THAN  THE  PHY 
SICAL  CIRCUMSTANCES  OF  THE  COUNTRY,  AND  THE  MANNERS 
MORE  THAN  THE  LAWS. 

All  the  Nations  of  America  have  a  democratic  State  of  Society. — Yet 
democratic  Institutions  subsist  only  among  the  Anglo-Americans. — 
The  Spaniards  of  South  America,  equally  favored  by  physical 
Causes  as  the  Anglo-Americans,  unable  to  maintain  a  democratic 
Republic. — Mexico,  which  has  adopted  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  in  .the  same  Predicament. — The  Anglo-Americans  of  the 
West  less  able  to  maintain  it  than  those  of  the  East  — Reason  of 
these  different  Results. 

I  HAVE  remarked  that  the  maintenance  of  democratic  institu 
tions  in  the  United  States  is  attributable  to  the  circumstances, 
the  laws,  and  the  manners  of  that  country.*  Most  Europe 
ans  are  only  acquainted  with  the  first  of  these  three  causes, 
and  they  are  apt  to  give  it  a  preponderating  impor:ance  which 
it  does  not  really  possess. 

It  is  true  that  the  Anglo-Americans  settled  in  the  New 
World  in  a  state  of  social  equality ;  the  low-born  and  the 
noble  were  not  to  be  found  among  them ;  and  professional 
prejudices  were  always  as  entirely  unknown  as  the  prejudices 
of  birth.  Thus,  as  the  condition  of  society  was  democratic, 
the  empire  of  democracy  was  established  without  difficulty. 
But  this  circumstance  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  United 
States ;  almost  all  the  transatlantic  colonies  were  founded  by 
men  equal  among  themselves,  or  who  became  so  by  inhabit 
ing  them.  In  no  one  part  of  the  New  World  have  Europe 
ans  been  able  to  create  an  aristocracy.  Nevertheless  demo 
cratic  institutions  prosper  nowhere  but  in  the  United  States. 

The  American  Union  has  no  enemies  to  contend  with  ;  it 
stands  in  the  wilds  like  an  island  in  the  ocean.  But  the 
Spaniards  of  South  America  were  no  less  isolated  by  nature  ; 
yet  their  position  has  not  relieved  them  from  the  charge  of 
standing  armies.  They  make  war  upon  each  other  when 
they  have  no  foreign  enemies  to  oppose ;  and  the  Anglo- 
American  democracy  is  the  only  one  which  has  hitherto  been 
able  to  maintain  itself  in  peace. 

The  territory  of  the  Union  presents  a  boundless  field  to 
human  activity,  and  inexhaustible  materials  for  industry  and 

*  I  remind  the  reader  of  the  general  signification  which  I  give  to  the 
word  manners,  namely,  the  moral  and  intellectual  characteristics  of 
social  man  taken  collectively. 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC  325 

labor.  The  passion  of  wealth  takes  the  place  of  ambition, 
and  the  warmth  of  faction  is  mitigated  by  a  sense  of  prosper 
ity.  But  in  what  portion  of  the  globe  shall  we  meet  with 
more  fertile  plains,  with  mightier  rivers,  or  with  more  unex 
plored  and  inexhaustible  riches,  than  in  South  America  ? 

Nevertheless  South  America  has  been  unable  to  maintain 
democratic  institutions.  If  the  welfare  of  nations  depended 
on  their  being  placed  in  a  remote  position,  with  an  unbounded 
space  of  habitable  territory  before  them,  the  Spaniards  of 
South  America  would  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  their 
fate.  And  although  they  might  enjoy  less  prosperity  than  the 
inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  their  lot  might  still  be  such 
as  to  excite  the  envy  of  some  nations  in  Europe.  There  are, 
however,  no  nations  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  more  misera 
ble  than  those  of  South  America. 

Thus,  not  only  are  physical  causes  inadequate  to  produce 
results  analogous  to  those  which  occur  in  North  America, 
but  they  are  unable  to  raise  the  population  of  South  America 
above  the  level  of  European  states,  where  they  act  in  a  con 
trary  direction.  Physical  causes  do  not  therefore  affect  the 
destiny  of  nations  so  much  as  has  been  supposed. 

I  have  met  with  men  in  New  England  who  were  on  the 
point  of  leaving  a  country,  where  they  might  have  remained 
in  easy  circumstances,  to  go  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  the 
wilds.  Not  far  from  that  district  I  found  a  French  popula 
tion  in  Canada,  which*  was  closely  crowded  on  a  narrow  ter 
ritory,  although  the  same  wilds  were  at  hand  ;  and  while  the 
emigrant  from  the  United  States  purchased  an  extensive 
estate  with  the  earnings  of  a  short  term  of  labor,  the  Cana 
dian  paid  as  much  for  land  as  he  would  have  done  in  France. 
Nature  offers  the  solitudes  of  the  New  World  to  Europeans ; 
but  they  are  not  always  acquainted  with  the  means  of  turning 
her  gifts  to  account.  Other  peoples  of  America  have  the 
same  physical  conditions  of  prosperity  as  the  Anglo-Ameri 
cans,  but  without  their  laws  and  their  manners ;  and  these 
peoples  are  wretched.  The  laws  and  manners  of  the  Anglo- 
Americans  are  therefore  that  cause  of  their  greatness  which 
is  the  object  of  my  inquiry. 

I  am  far  from  supposing  that  the  American  laws  are  pre 
eminently  good  in  themselves  ;  I  do  not  hold  them  to  be  ap 
plicable  to  all  democratic  peoples  ;  and  several  of  them  seem 
to  me  to  be  dangerous,  even  in  the  United  States.  Neverthe 
less,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  American  legislation,  taken 
collectively,  is  extremely  well  adapted  to  the  genius  of  the 
people  and  the  nature  of  the  country  which  it  is  intended  to 


326  CAUSES    TENDING   TO    MAINTAIN 

govern.  The  American  laws  are  therefore  good,  and  to  them 
must  be  attributed  a  large  portion  of  the  success  which 
attends  the  government  of  democracy  in  America  :  but  I  do 
not  believe  them  to  be  the  principal  cause  of  that  success : 
and  if  they  seem  to  me  to  have  more  influence  upon  the  social 
happiness  of  the  Americans  than  the  nature  of  the  country, 
on  the  other  hand  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  their  effect  is 
still  inferior  to  that  produced  by  the  manners  of  the  people. 

The  federal  laws  undoubtedly  constitute  the  most  important 
part  of  the  legislation  of  the  United  States.  Mexico,  which  is 
not  less  fortunately  situated  than  the  Anglo-American  Union, 
has  adopted* these  same  laws,  but  is  unable  to  accustom  itself 
to  the  government  of  democracy.  Some  other  cause  is  there 
fore  at  work  independently  of  those  physical  circumstances 
and  peculiar  laws  which  enable  the  democracy  to  rule  in  the 
United  States. 

Another  still  more  striking  proof  may  be  adduced.  Al 
most  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory  of  the  Union  are  the 
descendants  of  a  common  stock;  they  speak  the  same  lan 
guage,  they  worship  God  in  the  same  manner,  they  are  af 
fected  by  the  same  physical  causes,  and  they  obey  the  same 
laws.  Whence,  then,  do  their  characteristic  differences 
arise  ?  Why,  in  the  eastern  states  of  the  Union,  does  the 
republican  government  display  vigor  and  regularity,  and 
proceed  with  mature  deliberation  ?  Whence  does  it  derive 
the  wisdom  and  durability  which  marie  its  acts,  while  in  the 
western  states,  on  the  contrary,  society  seems  to  be  ruled  by 
the  powers  of  chance  ?  There,  public  business  is  conducted 
with  an  irregularity,  and  a  passionate  and  feverish  excite 
ment,  which  does  not  announce  a  long  or  sure  duration. 

I  am  no  longer  comparing  the  Anglo-American  states  to 
foreign  nations  ;  but  I  am  contrasting  them  with  each  other, 
and  endeavoring  to  discover  why  they  are  so  unlike.  The 
arguments  which  are  derived  from  the  nature  of  the  country 
and  the  difference  of  legislation,  are  here  all  set  aside.  Re 
course  must  be  had  to  some  other  cause ;  and  what  other 
cause  can  there  be  except  the  manners  of  the  people  ? 

It  is  in  the  eastern  states  that  the  Anglo-Americans  have 
been  longest  accustomed  to  the  government  of  democracy,  and 
that  they  have  adopted  the  habits  and  conceived  the  notions 
most  favorable  to  its  maintenance.  Democracy  has  gradually 
penetrated  into  their  customs,  their  opinions,  and  the  forms  of 
social  intercourse  ;  it  is  to  be  found  in  all  the  details  of  daily 
life  equally  as  in  the  laws.  In  the  eastern  slates  the  instruc 
tion  and  practical  education  of  the  people  have  been  most 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  327 

perfected,  and  religion  has  been  most  thoroughly  amalga 
mated  with  liberty.  Now  these  habits,  opinions,  customs, 
and  convictions,  are  precisely  the  constituent  elements  of  that 
which  I  have  denominated  manners. 

In  the  western  states,  on  the  contrary,  a  portion  of  the 
same  advantages  is  still  wanting.  Many  of  the  Americans 
of  the  west  were  born  in  the  woods,  and  they  mix  the  ideas 
and  the  customs  of  savage  life  with  the  civilisation  of  their 
parents.  Their  passions  are  more  intense ;  their  religious 
morality  less  authoritative  ;  and  their  convictions  are  less 
secure.  The  inhabitants  exercise  no  sort  of  control  over 
their  fellow-citizens,  for  they  are  scarcely  acquainted  with 
each  other.  The  nations  of  the  west  display,  to  a  certain  ex 
tent,  the  inexperience  and  the  rude  habits  of  a  people  in  its 
infancy ;  for  although  they  are  composed  of  old  elements, 
their  assemblage  is  of  recent  date. 

The  manners  of  the  Americans  of  the  United  States  are, 
then,  the  real  cause  which  renders  that  people  the  only  one 
of  the  American  nations  that  is  able  to  support  a  democratic 
government ;  and  it  is  the  influence  of  manners  which  pro 
duces  the  different  degrees  of  order  and  of  prosperity,  that 
may  be  distinguished  in  the  several  Anglo-American  de 
mocracies.  Thus  the  effect  which  the  geographical  position 
of  a  country  may  have  upon  the  duration  of  democratic  in 
stitutions  is  exaggerated  in  Europe.  Too  much  importance 
is  attributed  to  legislation,  too  little  to  manners.  These  three 
great  causes  serve,  no  doubt,  to  regulate  and  direct  the 
American  democracy ;  but  if  they  were  to  be  classed  in 
their  proper  order,  I  should  say  that  the  physical  circum 
stances  are  less  efficient  than  the  laws,  and  the  laws  very 
subordinate  to  the  manners  of  the  people.  I  am  convinced 
that  the  most  advantageous  situation  and  the  best  possible 
laws  cannot  maintain  a  constitution  in  spite  of  the  manners 
of  a  country :  while  the  latter  may  turn  the  most  unfavor 
able  positions  and  the  worst  laws  to  some  advantage.  The 
importance  of  manners  is  a  common  truth  to  which  study 
and  experience  incessantly  direct  our  attention.  It  may  be 
regarded  as  a  central  point  in  the  range  of  human  observa 
tion,  and  the  common  termination  of  all  inquiry.  So  se 
riously  do  I  insist  upon  this  head,  that  if  I  have  hitherto 
failed  in  making  the  reader  feel  the  important  influence  which 
I  attribute  to  the  practical  experience,  the  habits,  the  opinions. 
in  short,  to  the  manners  of  the  Americans,  upon  the  main 
tenance  of  their  institutions,  I  have  failed  in  the  principal  ob 
ject  of  my  work. 


328  CAUSES    TENDING   TO    MAINTAIN 


WHETHER  LAWS  AND  MANNERS  ARE  SUFFICIENT  TO  MAIN 
TAIN  DEMOCRATIC  INSTITUTIONS  IN  OTHER  COUNTRIES  BESIDE 
AMERICA. 

The  Anglo-Americans,  if  transported  into  Europe,  would  be  obliged 
to  modify  their  Laws. — Distinction  to  be  made  between  democratic 
Institutions  and  American  Institutions. — Democratic  Laws  may  be 
conceived  better  than,  or  at  least  different  from,  those  which  the 
American  Democracy  has  adopted. — The  Example  of  America  only 
proves  that  it  is  possible  to  regulate  Democracy  by  the  assistance  of 
Manners  and  Legislation. 

I  HAVE  asserted  that  the  success  of  democratic  institutions  in 
the  United  States  is  more  intimately  connected  with  the  laws 
themselves,  and  the  manners  of  the  people,  than  with  the 
nature  of  the  country.  But  does  it  follow  that  the  same 
causes  would  of  themselves  produce  the  same  results,  if  they 
were  put  into  operation  elsewhere  ;  and  if  the  country  is  no 
adequate  substitute  for  laws  and  manners,  can  laws  and  man 
ners  in  their  turn  prove  a  substitute  for  a  country  ?  It  will 
readily  be  understood  that  the  necessary  elements  of  a  reply 
to  this  question  are  wanting :  other  peoples  are  to  be  found 
in  the  New  World  beside  the  Anglo-Americans,  and  as  these 
peoples  are  affected  by  the  same  physical  circumstances  as 
the  latter,  they  may  fairly  be  compared  together.  But  there 
are  no  nations  out  of  America  which  have  adopted  the  same 
laws  and  manners,  being  destitute  of  the  physical  advantages 
peculiar  to  the  Anglo-Americans.  No  standard  of  compari 
son  therefore  exists,  and  we  can  only  hazard  an  opinion  upon 
this  subject. 

It  appears  to  me  in  the  first  place,  that  a  careful  distinc 
tion  must  be  made  between  the  institutions  of  the  United 
States  and  democratic  institutions  in  general.  When  I  re 
flect  upon  the  state  of  Europe,  its  mighty  nations,  its  popu 
lous  cities,  its  formidable  armies,  and  the  complex  nature  of 
its  politics,  I  cannot  suppose  that  even  the  Anglo-Americans, 
if  they  were  transported  to  our  hemisphere,  with  their  ideas, 
their  religion,  and  their  manners,  could  exist  without  con 
siderably  altering  their  laws.  But  a  democratic  nation  may 
be  imagined,  organized  differently  from  the  American  people. 
It  is  not  impossible  to  conceive  a  government  really  esta 
blished  upon  the  will  of  the  majority  ;  but  in  which  the  ma 
jority,  repressing  its  natural  propensity  to  equality,  should 
consent,  with  a  view  to  the  order  and  the  stability  of  the  state, 
to  invest  a  family  or  an  individual  with  all  the  prerogatives 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  329 

of  the  executive.  A  democratic  society  might  exist,  in  which 
the  forces  of  the  nation  would  be  more  centralized  than  they 
are  in  the  United  States  j  the  people  would  exercise  a  less 
direct  and  less  irresistible  influence  upon  public  affairs,  and 
yet  every  citizen,  invested  with  certain  rights,  would  partici 
pate,  within  his  sphere,  in  the  conduct  of  the  government. 
The  observations  I  made  among  the  Anglo-Americans  induce 
me  to  believe  that  democratic  institutions  of  this  kind,  pru 
dently  introduced  into  society,  so  as  gradually  to  mix  with 
the  habits  and  to  be  infused  with  the  opinions  of  the  people, 
might  subsist  in  other  countries  beside  America.  If  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  were  the  only  imaginable  democra 
tic  laws,  or  the  most  perfect  which  it  is  possible  to  conceive, 
I  should  admit  that  the  success  of  those  institutions  affords 
no  proof  of  the  success  of  democratic  institutions  in  general, 
in  a  country  less  favored  by  natural  circumstances.  But  as 
the  laws  of  America  appear  to  me  to  be  defective  in  several 
respects,  and  as  I  can  readily  imagine  others  of  the  same 
general  nature,  the  peculiar  advantages  of  that  country  do 
not  prove  that  democratic  institutions  cannot  succeed  in  a 
nation  less  favored  by  circumstances,  if  ruled  by  better  laws. 

If  human  nature  were  different  in  America  from  what  it 
is  elsewhere  ;  or  if  the  social  condition  of  the  Americans 
engendered  habits  and  opinions  among  them  different  from 
those  which  originate  in  the  same  social  condition  in  the  Old 
World,  the  American  democracies  would  afford  no  means  of 
predicting  what  may  occur  in  other  democracies.  If  the 
Americans  displayed  the  same  propensities  as  all  other  de 
mocratic  nations,  and  if  their  legislators  had  relied  upon  the 
nature  of  the  country  and  the  favor  of  circumstances  to  re 
strain  those  propensities  within  due  limits,  the  prosperity  of 
the  United  States  would  be  exclusively  attributable  to  physi 
cal  causes,  and  it  would  afford  no  encouragement  to  a  people 
inclined  to  imitate  their  example,  without  sharing  their  na 
tural  advantages.  But  neither  of  these  suppositions  is  borne 
out  by  facts. 

In  America  the  same  passions  are  to  be  met  with  as  in 
Europe  ;  some  originating  in  human  nature,  others  in  the  de 
mocratic  condition  of  society.  Thus  in  the  United  States  I 
found  that  restlessness  of  heart  which  is  natural  to  men, 
when  all  ranks  are  nearly  equal  and  the  chances  of  eleva 
tion  are  the  same  to  all.  I  found  the  democratic  feeling  of 
envy  expressed  under  a  thousand  different  forms.  I  re 
marked  that  the  people  frequently  displayed,  in  the  conduct 
of  affairs,  a  consummate  mixture  of  ignorance  and  presump- 


330  CAUSES    TENDING   TO    MAINTAIN 

tion  ,  and  I  inferred  that,  in  America,  men  are  liable  to  the 
same  failings  and  the  same  absurdities  as  among  ourselves. 
But  upon  examining  the  state  of  society  more  attentively,  I 
speedily  discovered  that  the  Americans  had  made  great  and 
successful  efforts  to  counteract  these  imperfections  of  human 
nature,  and  to  correct  the  natural  defects  of  democracy. 
Their  divers  municipal  laws  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  means 
of  restraining  the  ambition  of  the  citizens  within  a  narrow 
sphere,  and  of  turning  those  same  passions,  which  might 
have  worked  havoc  in  the  state,  to  the  good  of  the  township 
or  the  parish.  The  American  legislators  have  succeeded  to 
a  certain  extent  in  opposing  the  notion  of  rights,  to  the  feel 
ings  of  envy ;  the  permanence  of  the  religious  world,  to  the 
continual  shifting  of  politics ;  the  experience  of  the  people, 
to  its  theoretical  ignorance ;  and  its  practical  knowledge  of 
business,  to  the  impatience  of  its  desires. 

The  Americans,  then,  have  not  relied  upon  the  nature  of 
their  country,  to  counterpoise  those  dangers  which  originate 
in  their  constitution  and  in  their  political  laws.  To  evils 
which  are  common  to  all  democratic  peoples,  they  have  ap 
plied  remedies  which  none  but  themselves  had  ever  thought 
of  before  ;  and  although  they  were  the  first  to  make  the  ex 
periment,  they  have  succeeded  in  it. 

The  manners  and  laws  of  the  Americans  are  not  the  only 
ones  which  may  suit  a  democratic  people  ;  but  the  Ameri 
cans  have  shown  that  it  would  be  wrong  to  despair  of  regu 
lating  democracy  by  the  aid  of  manners  and  of  laws.  If 
other  nations  should  borrow  this  general  and  pregnant  idea 
from  the  Americans,  without  however  intending  to  imitate 
them  in  the  peculiar  application  which  they  have  made  of  it ; 
if  they  should  attempt  to  fit  themselves  for  that  social  condi 
tion,  which  it  seems  to  be  the  will  of  Providence  to  impose 
upon  the  generations  of  this  age,  and  so  to  escape  from  the 
despotism  of  the  anarchy  which  threatens  them  ;  what  rea 
son  is  there  to  suppose  that  their  efforts  would  not  be  crowned 
with  success  ?  The  organization  and  the  establishment  of 
democracy  in  Christendom,  is  the  great  political  problem  of 
the  time.  The  Americans,  unquestionably,  have  not  resolved 
this  problem,  but  they  furnish  useful  data  to  those  who  un 
dertake  the  task. 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC  331 


IMPORTANCE    OF    WHAT    PRECEDES    WITH    EESPECT    TO    THE 
STATE    OF    EUROPE. 

IT  may  readily  be  discovered  with  what  intention  I  undertooK 
the  foregoing  inquiries.  The  question  here  discussed  is  inte 
resting  not  only  to  the  United  States,  but  to  the  whole  world ; 
it  concerns,  not  a  nation,  but  all  mankind.  If  those  nations 
whose  social  condition  is  democratic  could  only  remain  free 
as  long  as  they  are  inhabitants  of  the  wilds,  we  could  not  but 
despair  of  the  future  destiny  of  the  human  race  ;  for  demo 
cracy  is  rapidly  acquiring  a  more  extended  sway,  and  the 
wilds  are  gradually  peopled  with  men.  If  it  were  true  that 
laws  and  manners  are  insufficient  to  maintain  democratic  in 
stitutions,  what  refuge  would  remain  open  to  the  nations 
except  the  despotism  of  a  single  individual  ?  I  am  aware 
that  there  are  many  worthy  persons  at  the  present  time  who 
are  not  alarmed  at  this  latter  alternative,  and  who  are  so 
tired  of  liberty  as  to  be  glad  of  repose,  far  from  those  storms 
by  which  it  is  attended.  But  these  individuals  are  ill  ac 
quainted  with  the  haven  to  which  they  are  bound.  They 
are  so  deluded  by  their  recollections,  as  to  judge  the  tendency 
of  absolute  power  by  what  it  was  formerly,  and  not  what  it 
might  become  at  the  present  time. 

If  absolute  power  were  re-established  among  the  demo 
cratic  nations  of  Europe,  I  am  persuaded  that  it  would  assume 
a  new  form,  and  appear  under  features  unknown  to  our  fore 
fathers.  There  was  a  time  in  Europe,  when  the  laws  and 
the  consent  of  the  people  had  invested  princes  with  almost 
unlimited  authority  ;  but  they  scarcely  ever  availed  them 
selves  of  it.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  nobility, 
of  the  authority  of  supreme  courts  of  justice,  of  corporations 
and  their  chartered  rights,  or  of  provincial  privileges,  which 
served  to  break  the  blows  of  the  sovereign  authority,  and  to 
maintain  a  spirit  of  resistance  in  the  nation.  Independently 
of  these  political  institutions — which,  however  opposed  they 
might  be  to  personal  liberty,  served  to  keep  alive  the  love  of 
freedom  in  the  mind  of  the  public,  and  which  may  be  esteemed 
to  have  been  useful  in  this  respect — the  manners  and  opi 
nions  of  the  nation  confined  the  royal  authority  within  barriers 
which  were  not  less  powerful,  although  they  were  less  con 
spicuous.  Religion,  the  affections  of  the  people,  the  benevo 
lence  of  the  prince,  the  sense  of  honor,  family  pride,  provin 
cial  prejudices,  custom,  and  public  opinion,  limited  the  power 
of  kings,  and  restrained  their  authority  within  an  invisible 


33*2  CAUSES   TENDING   TO   MAINTAIN 

circle.  The  constitution  of  nations  was  despotic  at  that  time, 
but  their  manners  were  free.  Princes  had  the  righth  but 
they  had  neither  the  means  nor  the  desire,  of  doing  whatever 
they  pleased. 

But  what  now  remains  of  those  barriers  which  formerly 
arrested  the  aggressions  of  tyranny  ?  Since  religion  has  lost 
its  empire  over  the  souls  of  men,  the  most  prominent  boun 
dary  which  divided  good  from  evil  is  overthrown  :  the  very 
elements  of  the  moral  world  are  indeterminate  ;  the  princes 
and  the  peoples  of  the  earth  are  guided  by  chance,  and  none 
can  define  the  natural  limits  of  despotism  and  the  bounds  of 
license.  Long  revolutions  have  for  ever  destroyed  the  re 
spect  which  surrounded  the  rulers  of  the  state  ;  and  since 
they  have  been  relieved  from  the  burden  of  public  esteem, 
princes  may  henceforward  surrender  themselves  without  fear 
to  the  seductions  of  arbitrary  power. 

When  kings  find  that  the  hearts  of  their  subjects  are  turned 
toward  them,  they  are  clement,  because  they  are  conscious 
of  their  strength  ;  and  they  are  chary  of  the  affection  of  their 
people,  because  the  affection  of  their  people  is  the  bulwark  of 
the  throne.  A  mutual  interchange  of  good  will  then  takes 
place  between  the  prince  and  the  people,  which  resembles 
the  gracious  intercourse  of  domestic  society.  The  subjects 
may  murmur  at  the  sovereign's  decree,  but  they  are  grieved 
to  displease  him  ;  and  the  sovereign  chastises  his  subjects 
with  the  light  hand  of  parental  affection. 

But  when  once  the  spell  of  royalty  is  broken  in  the  tumult 
of  revolution ;  when  successive  monarchs  have  occupied  the 
throne,  and  alternately  displayed  to  the  people  the  weakness 
of  right,  and  the  harshness  of  power,  the  sovereign  is  no  lon 
ger  regarded  by  any  as  the  father  of  the  state,  and  he  is 
feared  by  all  as  its  master.  If  he  be  weak,  he  is  despised ; 
if  he  be  strong,  he  is  detested.  He  is  himself  full  of  ani 
mosity  and  alarm  ;  he  finds  that  he  is  a  stranger  in  his  own 
country,  and  he  treats  his  subjects  like  conquered  enemies. 

When  the  provinces  and  the  towns  formed  so  many  dif 
ferent  nations  in  the  midst  of  their  common  country,  each  of 
them  had  a  will  of  its  own,  which  was  opposed  to  the  general 
spirit  of  subjection ;  but  now  that  all  the  parts  of  the  same 
empire,  after  having  lost  their  immunities,  their  customs, 
their  prejudices,  their  traditions,  and  their  names,  are  sub 
jected  and  accustomed  to  the  same  laws,  it  is  not  more  diffi 
cult  to  oppress  them  collectively,  than  it  was  formerly  to  op 
press  them  singly. 

While  the  nobles  enjoyed  their  power,  and  indeed  long 


THE*  DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  333 

after  that  power  was  lost,  the  honor  of  aristocracy  conferred 
an  extraordinary  degree  of  force  upon  their  personal  opposi 
tion.  They  afforded  instances  of  men  who,  notwithstanding 
their  weakness,  still  entertained  a  high  opinion  of  their  per 
sonal  value,  and  dared  to  cope  single-handed  with  the  efforts 
of  the  public  authority.  But  at  the  present  day,  when  all 
ranks  are  more  and  more  confounded,  when  the  individual 
disappears  in  the  throng,  and  is  easily  lost  in  the  midst  of  a 
common  obscurity,  when  the  honor  of  monarchy  has  almost 
lost  its  empire  without  being  succeeded  by  public  virtue,  and 
when  nothing  can  enable  man  to  rise  above  himself,  who 
shall  say  at  what  point  the  exigencies  of  power  and  servility 
of  weakness  will  stop  ? 

As  long  as  family  feeling  was  kept  alive,  the  antagonist  of 
oppression  was  never  alone ;  he  looked  about  him,  and  found 
his  clients,  his  hereditary  friends,  and  his  kinsfolk.  If  this 
support  was  wanting,  he  was  sustained  by  his  ancestors  and 
animated  by  his  posterity.  But  when  patrimonial  estates  are 
divided,  and  when  a  few  years  suffice  to  confound  the  dis 
tinctions  of  a  race,  where  can  family  feeling  be  found  ? 
What  force  can  there  be  in  the  customs  of  a  country  which 
has  changed,  and  is  still  perpetually  changing  its  aspect ;  in 
which  every  act  of  tyranny  has  a  precedent,  and  every  crime 
an  example  ;  in  which  there  is  nothing  so  old  that  its  anti 
quity  can  save  it  from  destruction,  and  nothing  so  unparal 
leled  that  its  novelty  can  prevent  it  from  being  done  ? 
What  resistance  can  be  offered  by  manners  of  so  pliant  a 
make,  that  they  have  already  often  yielded  ?  What  strength 
can  even  public  opinion  have  retained,  when  no  twenty  per 
sons  are  connected  by  a  common  tie  ;  when  not  a  man,  nor 
a  family,  nor  chartered  corporation,  nor  class,  nor  free  insti 
tution,  has  the  power  of  representing  that  opinion  ;  and  when 
every  citizen — being  equally  weak,  equally  poor,  and  equally 
dependant — has  only  his  personal  impotence  to  oppose  to  the 
organized  force  of  the  government  ? 

The  annals  of  France  furnish  nothing  analogous  to  the  con 
dition  in  which  that  country  might  then  be  thrown.  But  it 
may  more  aptly  be  assimilated  to  the  times  of  old,  and  to 
those  hideous  eras  of  Roman  oppression,  when  the  manners 
of  the  people  were  corrupted,  their  traditions  obliterated,  their 
habits  destroyed,  their  opinions  shaken,  and  freedom,  expelled 
from  the  laws,  could  find  no  refuge  in  the  land  ;  when  noth 
ing  protected  the  citizens,  and  the  citizens  no  longer  protected 
themselves  ;  when  human  nature  was  the  sport  of  man,  and 
princes  wearied  out  the  clemency  of  Heaven  before  they  ex- 


334  CAUSES    TENDING    TO 

hausted  the  patience  of  their  subjects.  Those  who  hope  to 
revive  the  monarchy  of  Henry  IV.  or  of  Louis  XIV.,  appear 
to  me  to  be  afflicted  with  mental  blindness  ;  and  when  I  con 
sider  the  present  condition  of  several  European  nations — a 
condition  to  which  all  the  others  tend — I  am  led  to  believe 
that  they  will  soon  be  left  with  no  other  alternative  than 
democratic  liberty,  or  the  tyranny  of  the  Cesars. 

And,  indeed,  it  is  deserving  of  consideration,  whether  men 
are  to  be  entirely  emancipated,  or  entirely  enslaved  ;  whether 
their  rights  are  to  be  made  equal,  or  wholly  taken  away  from 
them.  If  the  rulers  of  society  were  reduced  either  gradu 
ally  to  raise  the  crowd  to  their  own  level,  or  to  sink  the  citi 
zens  below  that  of  humanity,  would  not  the  doubts  of  many 
be  resolved,  the  consciences  of  many  be  healed,  and  the 
community  be  prepared  to  make  great  sacrifices  with  little 
difficulty  ?  In  that  case,  the  gradual  growth  of  democratic 
manners  and  institutions  should  be  regarded,  not  as  the  best, 
but  as  the  only  means  of  preserving  freedom  ;  and  without 
liking  the  government  of  democracy,  it  might  be  adopted  as 
the  most  applicable  and  the  fairest  remedy  for  the  present  ills 
of  society. 

It  is  difficult  to  associate  a  people  in  the  work  of  govern 
ment  ;  but  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  supply  it  with  experience, 
and  to  inspire  it  with  the  feelings  which  it  requires  in  order 
to  govern  well-.  I  grant  that  the  caprices  of  democracy  are 
perpetual ;  its  instruments  are  rude,  its  laws  imperfect.  But 
if  it  were  true  that  soon  no  just  medium  would  exist  between 
the  empire  of  democracy  and  the  dominioa  of  a  single  arm, 
should  we  not  rather  incline  toward  the  former,  than  submit 
voluntarily  to  the  latter  ?  And  if  complete  equality  be  our 
fate,  is  it  not  better  to  be  levelled  by  free  institutions  than  by 
despotic  power  ? 

Those  who,  after  having  read  this  book,  should  imagine  that 
my  intention  in  writing  it  has  been  to  propose  the  laws  and 
manners  of  the  Anglo-Americans  for  the  imitation  of  all  de 
mocratic  peoples,  would  commit  a  very  great  mistake  ;  they 
must  have  paid  more  attention  to  the  form  than  to  the  sub 
stance  of  my  ideas.  My  aim  has  been  to  show,  by  the  ex 
ample  of  America,  that  laws,  and  especially  manners,  may 
exist,  which  will  allow  a  democratic  people  to  remain  free. 
But  I  am  very  far  from  thinking  that  we  ought  to  follow  the 
example  of  the  American  democracy,  and  copy  the  means 
which  it  has  employed  to  attain  its  ends  ;  for  I  am  well  aware 
of  the  influence  which  the  nature  of  a  country  and  its  poli 
tical  precedents  exercise  upon  a  constitution ;  and  I  should 


THE    DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLIC.  J3f3-J 

regard  it  as  a  great  misfortune  for  mankind,  if  liberty  were  to 
exist,  all  over  the  world,  under  the  same  forms. 

But  I  am  of  opinion  that  if  we  do  not  succeed  in  gradu 
ally  introducing  democratic  institutions  into  France,  and  if 
we  despair  of  imparting  to  the  citizens  those  ideas  and  senti 
ments  which  first  prepare  them  for  freedom,  and  afterward 
allow  them  to  enjoy  it,  there  will  be  no  independence  at  all, 
either  for  the  middling  classes  or  the  nobility,  for  the  poor  or 
for  the  rich,  but  an  equal  tyranny  over  all ;  and  I  foresee 
that  if  the  peaceable  empire  of  the  majority  be  not  founded 
among  us  in  time,  we  shall  sooner  or  later  arrive  at  the  un 
limited  authority  of  a  single  despot. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  PRESENT  AND  PROBABLE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE 
THREE  RACES  WHICH  INHABIT  THE  TERRITORY  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

THE  principal  part  of  the  task  which  I  had  imposed  upon  my 
self  is  now  performed :  I  have  shown,  as  far  as  I  was  able, 
the  laws  and  manners  of  the  American  democracy.  Here  1 
might  stop  ;  but  the  reader  would  perhaps  feel  that  I  had  not 
satisfied  his  expectations. 

The  absolute  supremacy  of  democracy  is  not  all  that  we 
meet  with  in  America  ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  New  World 
may  be  considered  from  more  than  one  point  of  view.  In 
the  course  of  this  work,  my  subject  has  often  led  me  to  speak 
of  the  Indians  and  the  negroes  ;  but  I  have  never  been  able 
to  stop  in  order  to  show  what  places  these  two  races  occupy, 
in  the  midst  of  the  democratic  people  whom  I  was  engaged 
in  describing.  I  have  mentioned  in  what  spirit,  and  accord 
ing  to  what  laws,  the  Anglo-American  Union  was  formed  ; 
but  I  could  only  glance  at  the  dangers  which  menace  that 
confederation,  while  it  was  equally  impossible  for  me  to  give 
a  detailed  account  of  its  chances  of  duration,  independently 
of  its  laws  and  manners.  When  speaking  of  the  United  re 
publican  States,  I  hazarded  no  conjectures  upon  the  perma 
nence  of  republican  forms  in  the  New  World  ;  and  when 
making  frequent  allusion  to  the  commercial  activity  which 


336         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

reigns  in  the  Union,  I  was  unable  to  inquire  into  the  future 
condition  of  the  Americans  as  a  commercial  people. 

These  topics  are  collaterally  connected  with  my  subject, 
without  forming  a  part  of  it ;  they  are  American,  without  be 
ing  democratic  ;  and  to  portray  democracy  has  been  my  prin 
cipal  aim.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  postpone  these  ques 
tions,  which  I  now  take  up  as  the  proper  termination  of  my 
work. 

The  territory  now  occupied  or  claimed  by  the  American 
Union,  spreads  from  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  to  those  of  the 
Pacific  ocean.  On  the  east  and  west  its  limits  are  those  of  the 
continent  itself.  On  the  south  it  advances  nearly  to  the  tropic, 
and  it  extends  upward  to  the  icy  regions  of  the  north.* 

The  human  beings  who  are  scattered  over  this  space  do 
not  form,  as  in  Europe,  so  many  branches  of  the  same  stock. 
Three  races  naturally  distinct,  and  I  might  almost  say  hostile 
to  each  other,  are  discoverable  among  them  at  the  first  glance. 
Almost  insurmountable  barriers  had  been  raised  between 
them  by  education  and  by  law,  as  well  as  by  their  origin  and 
outward  characteristics ;  but  fortune  has  brought  them  toge 
ther  on  the  same  soil,  where,  although  they  are  mixed,  they 
do  not  amalgamate,  and  each  race  fulfils  its  destiny  apart. 

Among  these  widely  differing  families  of  men,  the  first  which 
attracts  attention,  the  superior  in  intelligence,  in  power,  and 
in  enjoyment,  is  the  white  or  European,  the  MAN  pre-eminent; 
and  in  subordinate  grades,  the  negro  and  the  Indian.  These 
two  unhappy  races  have  nothing  in  common  ;  neither  birth, 
nor  features,  nor  language,  nor  habits.  Their  only  resem 
blance  lies  in  their  misfortunes.  Both  of  them  occupy  an 
inferior  rank  in  the  country  they  inhabit ;  both  suffer  from 
tyranny  ;  and  if  their  wrongs  are  not  the  same,  they  originate 
at  any  rate  with  the  same  authors. 

If  we  reasoned  from  what  passes  in  the  world,  we  should 
almost  say  that  the  European  is  to  the  other  races  of  man 
kind,  what  man  is  to  the  lower  animals ; — he  makes  them 
subservient  to  his  use  ;  and  when  he  cannot  subdue,  he  des 
troys  them.  Oppression  has  at  one  stroke  deprived  the  des 
cendants  of  the  Africans  of  almost  all  the  privileges  of  hu 
manity.  The  negro  of  the  United  States  has  lost  all  remem 
brance  of  his  country ;  the  language  which  his  forefathers 
spoke  is  never  heard  around  him ;  he  abjured  their  religion 
and  forgot  their  customs  when  he  ceased  to  belong  to  Africa, 
without  acquiring  any  claim  to  European  privileges.  But  he 
remains  half-way  between  the  two  communities  ;  sold  by  the 

*  See  the  map. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.    S.  337 

one,  repulsed  by  the  other  ;  finding  not  a  spot  in  the  universe 
to  call  by  the  name  of  country,  except  the  faint  image  of  a 
home  which  the  shelter  of  his  master's  roof  affords. 

The  negro  has  no  family  ;  woman  is  merely  the  temporary 
companion  of  his  pleasures,  and  his  children  are  upon  an 
equality  with  himself  from  the  moment  of  their  birth.  Am  I 
to  call  it  a  proof  of  God's  mercy,  or  a  visitation  of  his  wrath, 
that  man  in  certain  states  appears  to  be  insensible  to  his 
extreme  wretchedness,  and  almost  affects  with  a  depraved 
taste  the  cause  of  his  misfortunes  ?  The  negro,  who  is 
plunged  in  this  abyss  of  evils,  scarcely  feels  his  own  calami 
tous  situation.  Violence  made  him  a  slave,  and  the  habit  of 
servitude  g;ves  him  the  thoughts  and  desires  of  a  slave ;  he 
admires  his  tyrants  more  than  he  hates  them,  and  finds  his 
joy  and  his  pride  in  the  servile  imitation  of  those  who  oppress 
him :  his  understanding  is  degraded  to  the  level  of  his  soul. 

The  negro  enters  upon  slavery  as  soon  as  he  is  born  ;  nay, 
he  may  have  been  purchased  in  the  womb,  and  have  begun 
his  slavery  before  he  began  his  existence.  Equally  devoid 
of  wants  and  of  enjoyment,  and  useless  to  himself,  he  learns, 
with  his  first  notions  of  existence,  that  he  is  the  property  of 
another  who  has  an  interest  in  preserving  his  life,  and  that 
the  care  of  it  does  not  devolve  upon  himself;  even  the  power 
of  thought  appears  to  him  a  useless  gift  of  Providence,  and  he 
quietly  enjoys  the  privileges  of  his  debasement. 

If  he  becomes  free,  independence  is  often  felt  by  him  to  be 
a  heavier  burden  than  slavery ;  for  having  learned,  in  the 
course  of  his  life,  to  submit  to  everything  except  reason,  he 
is  too  much  unacquainted  with  her  dictates  to  obey  them.  A 
thousand  new  desires  beset  him,  and  he  is  destitute  of  the 
knowledge  and  energy  necessary  to  resist  them  :  these  are 
masters  which  it  is  necessary  to  contend  with,  and  he  has 
learned  only  to  submit  and  obey.  In  short,  he  sinks  to  such 
a  depth  of  wretchedness,  that  while  servitude  brutalizes, 
liberty  destroys  him. 

Oppression  has  been  no  less  fatal  to  the  Indian  than  to  the 
negro  race,  but  its  effects  are  different.  Before  the  arrival 
of  the  white  men  in  the  New  World,  the  inhabitants  of  North 
America  lived  quietly  in  their  woods,  enduring  the  vicissi 
tudes,  and  practising  the  virtues  and  vices  common  to  savage 
nations.  The  Europeans,  having  dispersed  the  Indian  tribes 
and  driven  them  into  the  deserts,  condemned  them  to  a  wander 
ing  life  full  of  inexpressible  sufferings. 

Savage  nations  are  only  controlled  by  opinion  and  by 
custom.  When  the  North  American  Indians  had  lost  their 
22 


338         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

sentiment  of  attachment  to  their  country  ;  when  their  families 
were  dispersed,  their  traditions  obscured,  and  the  chain  of 
their  recollections  broken  ;  when  all  their  habits  were  changed, 
and  their  wants  increased  beyond  measure,  European  tyranny 
rendered  them  more  disorderly  and  less  civilized  than  they 
were  before.  The  moral  and  physical  condition  of  these 
tribes  continually  grew  worse,  and  they  became  more  barba 
rous  as  they  became  more  wretched.  Nevertheless  the 
Europeans  have  not  been  able  to  metamorphose  the  character 
of  the  Indians  ;  and  though  they  have  had  power  to  destroy 
them,  they  have  never  been  able  to  make  them  submit  to  the 
rules  of  civilized  society. 

The  lot  of  the  negro  is  placed  on  the  extreme  limit  of  ser 
vitude,  while  that  of  the  Indian  lies  on  the  utmost  verge  of 
liberty  ;  and  slavery  does  not  produce  more  fatal  effects  upon 
the  first,  than  independence  upon  the  second.  The  negro  has 
lost  all  property  in  his  own  person,  and  he  cannot  dispose  of 
his  existence  without  committing  a  sort  of  fraud  :  but  the 
savage  is  his  own  master  as  soon  as  he  is  able  to  act ;  parental 
authority  is  scarcely  known  to  him  ;  he  has  never  bent  his 
will  to  that  of  any  of  his  kind,  or  learned  the  difference 
between  voluntary  obedience  and  a  shameful  subjection  ;  and 
the  very  name  of  law  is  unknown  to  him.  To  be  free,  with 
him,  signifies  to  escape  from  all  the  shackles  of  society.  As  he 
delights  in  this  barbarous  independence,  and  would  rather 
perish  than  sacrifice  the  least  part  of  it,  civilisation  has  little 
power  over  him. 

The  negro  makes  a  thousand  fruitless  'efforts  to  insinuate 
himself  among  men  who  repulse  him ;  he  conforms  to  the 
taste  of  his  oppressors,  adopts  their  opinions,  and  hopes  by 
imitating  them  to  form  a  part  of  their  community.  Having 
been  told  from  infancy  that  his  race  is  naturally  inferior  to 
that  of  the  whites,  he,  assents  to  the  proposition,  and  is  ashamed 
of  his  own  nature.  In  each  of  his  features  he  discovers  a 
trace  of  slavery,  and,  if  it  were  in  his  power,  he  would  will 
ingly  rid  himself  of  everything  that  makes  him  what  he  is. 

The  Indian,  on  the  contrary,  has  his  imagination  inflated 
with  the  pretended  nobility  of  his  origin,  and  lives  and  dies  in 
the  midst  of  these  dreams  of  pride.  Far  from  desiring  to 
conform  his  habits  to  ours,  he  loves  his  savage  life  as  the  dis 
tinguishing  mark  of  his  race,  and  he  repels  every  advance  to 
civilisation,  less  perhaps  from  the  hatred  which  he  entertains 
for  it,  than  from  a  dread  of  resembling  the  Europeans.* 

*  The  native  of  North  America  retains  his  opinions  and  the  most 
insignificant  ofhis  habits  -vith  a  degree  of  tenacity  which  has  no  parallel 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.   S.  339 

While  he  has  nothing  to  oppose  to  our  perfection  in  the  arts 
but  the  resources  of  the  desert,  to  our  tactics  nothing  but  un 
disciplined  courage ;  while  our  well-digested  plans  are  met 
by  the  spontaneous  instincts  of  savage  life,  who  can  wonder 
if  he  fails  in  this  unequal  contest  ? 

The  negro  who  earnestly  desires  to  mingle  his  race  with 
that  of  the  European,  cannot  effect  it ;  while  the  Indian,  who 
might  succeed  to  a  certain  extent,  disdains  to  make  the 
attempt.  The  servility  of  the  one  dooms  him  to  slavery,  the 
pride  of  the  other  to  death. 

I  remember  that  while  I  was  travelling  through  the  forests 
which  still  cover  the  state  of  Alabama,  I  arrived  one  day  at 
the  log  house  of  a  pioneer.  I  did  not  wish  to  penetrate  into  the 
dwelling  of  the  American,  but  retired  to  rest  myself  for  a 
while  on  the  margin  of  a  spring,  which  was  not  far  off,  in  the 
woods.  While  I  was  in  this  place  (which  was  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  Creek  territory),  an  Indian  woman  appeared, 
followed  by  a  negress,  and  holding  by  the  hand  a  little  white 
girl  of  five  or  six  years  old,  whom  I  took  to  be  the  daughter 
of  the  pioneer.  A  sort  of  barbarous  luxury  set  off  the  costume 
of  the  Indian  ;  rings  of  metal  were  hanging  from  her  nostrils 
and  ears  ;  her  hair,  which  was  adorned  with  glass  beads,  fell 
loosely  upon  her  shoulders ;  and  I  saw  that  she  was  not 
married,  for  she  still  wore  the  necklace  of  shells  which  the 

in  history.  For  more  than  two  hundred  years  the  wandering  tribes  of 
North  America  have  had  daily  intercourse  with  the  whites,  and  they  have 
never  derived  from  them  either  a  custom  or  an  idea.  Yet  the  Europe 
ans  have  exercised  a  powerful  influence  over  the  savages  :  they  have 
made  them  more  licentious,  but  not  more  European.  In  the  summer 
of  1831,  I  happened  to  be  beyond  Lake  Michigan,  at  a  place  called 
Green  Bay,  which  serves  as  the  extreme  frontier  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Indians  on  the  northwestern  side^.  Here  I  became  ac 
quainted  with  an  American  officer,  Major  H.,  who,  after  talking  to  me 
at  length  on  the  inflexibility  of  the  Indian  character,  related  the  follow 
ing  fact :  "  I  formerly  knew  a  young  Indian,"  said  he,  "who  had  been 
educated  at  a  college  in  New  England,  where  he  had  greatly  distin 
guished  himself,  and  had  acquired  the  external  appearance  of  a  member 
of  civilized  society.  When  the  war  broke  out  between  ourselves  and 
the  English,  in  1810,  I  saw  this  young  man  again  ;  he  was  serving  in 
our  army  at  the  head  of  the  warriors  of  his  tribe;  for  the  Indians  were 
admitted  among  the  ranks  of  the  Americans,  upon  condition  that  they 
would  abstain  from  their  horrible  custom  of  scalping  their  victims.  On 
*he  evening  of  the  battle  of  *  *  *,  C.  came  and  sat  himself  down  by  the 
fire  of  our  bivouac.  I  asked  him  what  had  been  his  fortune  that  day : 
ne  related  his  exploits  ;  and  growing  warm  and  animated  by  the  recol 
lection  of  them,  he  concluded  by  suddenly  opening  the  breast  of  his 
coat,  saying,  '  You  must  not  betray  me — see  here  !'  And  I  actually 
oeheld,"  said  the  major,  "  between  his  body  and  his  shirt,  the  skin  and 
hair  of  an  English  head  still  dripping  with  gore." 


340         PRESENT  'AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

bride  always  deposites  on  the  nuptial  couch.  The  negress 
was  clad  in  squalid  European  garments. 

They  all  three  came  and  seated  themselves  upon  the  banks 
of  the  fountain  ;  and  the  young  Indian,  taking  the  child  in  her 
arms,  lavished  upon  her  such  fond  caresses  as  mothers  give ; 
while  the  negress  endeavored  by  various  little  artifices  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  young  Creole.  The  child  displayed 
in  her  slightest  gestures  a  consciousness  of  superiority  which 
formed  a  strange  contrast  with  her  infantine  weakness  ;  as  if 
she  received  the  attentions  of  her  companions  with  a  sort  of 
condescension. 

The  negress  was  seated  on  the  ground  before  her  mistress, 
watching  her  smallest  desires,  and  apparently  divided  between 
strong  affection  for  the  child  and  servile  fear ;  while  the  savage 
displayed,  in  the  midst  of  her  tenderness,  an  air  of  freedom 
and  of  pride  which  was  almost  ferocious.  I  had  approached 
the  group,  and  I  contemplated  them  in  silence ;  but  my 
curiosity  was  probably  displeasing  to  the  Indian  woman,  for 
she  suddenly  rose,  pushed  the  child  roughly  from  her,  and 
giving  me  an  angry  look,  plunged  into  the  thicket. 

I  had  often  chanced  to  see  individuals  met  together  in  the 
same  place,  who  belonged  to  the  three  races  of  men  which 
people  North  America.  I  had  perceived  from  many  different 
results  the  preponderance  of  the  whites.  But  in  the  picture 
which  I  have  just  been  describing  there  was  something  pecu 
liarly  touching  ;  a  bond  of  affection  here  united  the  oppressors 
with  the  oppressed,  and  the  effort  of  Nature  to  bring  them 
together  rendered  still  more  striking  the  immense  distance 
placed  between  them  by  prejudice  and  by  law. 


THE  PRESENT  AND  PROBABLE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  IN 
DIAN  TRIBES  WHICH  INHABIT  THE  TERRITORY  POSSESSED  BY 
THE  UNION. 

Gradual  disappearance  of  the  native  Tribes.— Manner  in  which  it 
takes  place. — Miseries  accompanying  the  forced  Migrations  of  the 
Indians  —The  Savages  of  North  America  had  only  two  ways  of  es 
caping  Destruction ;  War  or  Civilisation. — They  are  no  longer  able 
to  make  War.— Reasons  why  they  refused  to  become  civilized  when 
it  was  in  their  Power,  and  why  they  cannot  become  so  now  that  they 
desire  it. — Instance  of  the  Creek  and  Cherokees. — Policy  of  the  par 
ticular  States  toward  these  Indians.-Policy  of  the  federal  Government. 

NONE  of  the  Indian  tribes  which  formerly  inhabited  the  ter 
ritory  of  New  England — the  Narragansets,  the  Mohicans,  the 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  341 

Pequots — have  any  existence  but  in  the  recollection  of  man. 
The  Lenapes,  who  received  William  Penn  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  upon  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  have  disappeared  ; 
and  I  myself  met  with  the  last  of  the  Iroquois,  who  were 
begging  alms.  The  nations  I  have  mentioned  formerly  cov 
ered  the  country  to  the  seacoast ;  but  a  traveller  at  the  pre 
sent  day  must  penetrate  more  than  a  hundred  leagues  into 
the  interior  of  the  continent  to  find  an  Indian.  Not  only  have 
these  wild  tribes  receded,  but  they  are  destroyed  ;*  and  as 
they  give  way  or  perish,  an  immense  and  increasing  people 
fills  their  place.  There  is  no  instance  on  record  of  so  prodi 
gious  a  growth,  or  so  rapid  a  destruction  ;  the  manner  in 
which  the  latter  change  takes  place  is  not  difficult  to  de 
scribe. 

When  the  Indians  were  the  sole  inhabitants  of  the  wilds 
whence  they  have  been  expelled,  their  wants  were  few. 
Their  arms  were  of  their  own  manufacture,  their  only  drink 
was  the  water  of  the  brook,  and  their  clothes  consisted  of  the 
skin  of  animals,  whose  flesh  furnished  them  with  fqod. 

The  Europeans  introduced  among  the  savages  of  North 
America  firearms,  ardent  spirits,  and  iron  :  they  taught  them 
to  exchange  for  manufactured  stuffs  the  rough  garments 
which  had  previously  satisfied  their  untutored  simplicity. 
Having  acquired  new  tastes,  without  the  arts  by  whicli  they 
could  be  gratified,  the  Indians  were  obliged  to  have  recourse 
to  the  workmanship  of  the  whites  ;  but  in  return  for  their 
productions,  the  savage  had  nothing  to  offer  except  the  rich 
furs  which  still  abounded  in  his  woods.  Hence  the  chase 
became  necessary,  not  merely  to  provide  for  his  subsistence, 
but  in  order  to  procure  the  only  objects  of  barter  which  he 
could  furnish  to  Europe. f  While  the  wants  of  the  natives 

*  In  the  thirteen  original  states,  there  are  only  6,273  Indians  re 
maining.  (See  Legislative  Documents,  20th  congress,  No.  117, 
p.  90.) 

f  Messrs.  Clarke  and  Cass.  in  their  report  to  congress,  the  4th  Feb 
ruary,  1829,  p.  23,  expressed  themselves  thus :  "  The  time  when  the 
Indians  generally  could  supply  themselves  with  food  and  clothing, 
without  any  of  the  articles  of  civilized  life,  has  long  since  passed  away. 
The  more  remote  tribes,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  who  live  where  im 
mense  herds  of  buffalo  are  yet  to  be  found,  and  who  follow  those  ani 
mals  in  their  periodical  migrations,  could  more  easily  than  any  others 
recur  to  the  habits  of  their  ancestors,  and  live  without  the  white  man 
or  any  of  his  manufactures.  But  the  buffalo  is  constantly  receding. 
The  smaller  animals — the  bear,  the  deer,  the  beaver,  the  otter,  the 
muskrat,  &.C.,  principally  ir.inister  to  the  comfort  and  support  of  the 
Indians ;  and  these  cannot  be  taken  without  guns,  ammunition,  and 
traps. 


342         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

were  thus  increasing,  their  resources  continued  to  diminish. 
From  the  moment  when  a  European  settlement  is  formed 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Indi 
ans,  the  beasts  of  chase  take  the  alarm.*  Thousands  of 
savages,  wandering  in  the  forest  and  destitute  of  any  fixed 
dwelling,  did  not  disturb  them  ;  but  as  soon  as  the  contin 
uous  sbunds  of  European  labor  are  heard  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  they  begin  to  flee  away,  and  retire  to  the  west,  where 
their  instinct  teaches  them  that  they  will  find  deserts  of 
immeasurable  extent.  "  The  buffalo  is  constantly  reced 
ing,"  say  Messrs.  Clarke  and  Cass  in  their  Report  of  the 
year  1829  ;  "  a  few  years  since  they  approached  the  base 
of  the  Alleghany  ;  and  a  few  years  hence  they  may  even 
be  rare  upon  the  immense  plains  which  extend  to  the  base 
of  the  Rocky  mountains."  I  have  been  assured  that  this 
effect  of  the  approach  of  the  whites  is  often  felt  at  two 
hundred  leagues'  distance  from  the  frontier.  Their  influ 
ence  is  thus  exerted  over  tribes  whose  name  is  unknown 
to  them,  and  who  suffer  the  evils  of  usurpation  long  before 
they  are  acquainted  with  the  authors  of  their  distress. f 

Bold  adventurers  soon  penetrate  into  the  country  the  In 
dians  have  deserted,  and  when  they  have  advanced  about 
fifteen  or  twenty  leagues  from  the  extreme  frontiers  of  the 
whites,  they  begin  to  build  habitations  for  civilized  beings 

c:  Among  the  northwestern  Indians  particularly,  the  labor  of  supply 
ing  a  family  with  food  is  excessive.  Day  after  day  is  spent  by  the 
hunter  without  success,  and  during  this  interval  his  family  must  sub 
sist  upon  bark  or  roots,  or  perish.  Want  and  misery  are  around  them 
and  among  them.  Many  die  every  winter  from  actual  starvation." 

The  Indians  will  not  live  as  Europeans  live;  and  yet  they  can  nei 
ther  subsist  without  them,  nor  exactly  after  the  fashion  of  their  fathers. 
This  is  demonstrated  by  a  fact  which  I  likewise  give  upon  official  au 
thority.  Some  Indians  of  a  tribe  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Superior  had 
killed  a  European ;  the  American  government  interdicted  all  traffic 
with  the  tribe  to  which  the  guilty  parties  belonged,  until  they  were 
delivered  up  to  justice.  This  measure  had  the  desired  effect. 

*  **  Five  years  ago,"  says  Vblney  in  his  Tableaux  des  Etats  Unis,  p. 
370,  "ingoing  from  Vincennes  to  Kaskaskia,  a  territory  which  now 
forms  part  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  but  which  at  the  time  I  mention 
was  completely  wild  (1797),  you  could  not  cross  a  prairie  without  see 
ing  herds  of  from  four  to  five  hundred  buffaloes.  There  are  now  none 
remaining;  they  swam  across  the  Mississippi  to  escape  from  the 
hunters,  and  more  particularly  from  the  bells  of  the  American  cows." 

f  The  truth  of  what  I  here  advance  may  be  easily  proved  by  con 
sulting  the  tabular  statement  of  Indian  tribes  inhabiting  the  United 
States,  and  their  territories.  (Legislative  Documents,  20th  congress, 
No.  117,  pp.  90-105.)  It  is  there  shown  that  the  tribes  of  America  are 
rapidly  decreasing,  although  the  Europeans  are  at  a  considerable  dis 
tance  from  them. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  343 

in  the  midst  of  the  wilderness.  This  is  done  without  diffi 
culty,  as  the  territory  of  a  hunting  nation  is  ill  defined  ; 
it  is  the  common  property  of  the  tribe,  and  belongs  to  no 
one  in  particular,  so  that  individual  interests  are  not  con 
cerned  in  the  protection  of  any  part  of  it. 

A  few  European  families,  settled  in  different  situations 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  each  other,  soon  drive  away 
the  wild  animals  which  remain  between  their  places  of 
abode.  The  Indians,  who  had  previously  lived  in  a  sort  of 
abundance,  then  find  it  difficult  to  subsist,  and  still  more  diffi 
cult  to  procure  the  articles  of  barter  which  they  stand  in 
need  of. 

To  drive  away  their  game  is  to  deprive  them  of  the  means 
of  existence,  as  effectually  as  if  the  fields  of  our  agricultu 
rists  were  stricken  with  barrenness ;  and  they  are  reduced, 
like  famished  wolves,  to  prowl  through  the  forsaken  woods  in 
quest  of  prey.  Their  instinctive  love  of  their  country  at 
taches  them  to  the  soil  which  gave  them  birth,*  even  after  it 
has  ceased  to  yield  anything  but  misery  and  death.  At 
length  they  are  compelled  to  acquiesce,  and  to  depart :  they 
follow  the  traces  of  the  elk,  the  buffalo,  and  the  beaver,  and 
are  guided  by  those  wild  animals  in  the  choice  of  their  future 
country.  Properly  speaking,  therefore,  it  is  not  the  Euro 
peans  who  drive  away  the  native  inhabitants  of  America  ;  it 
is  famine  which  compels  them  to  recede  ;  a  happy  distinction, 
which  had  escaped  the  casuists  of  former  times,  and  for  which 
we  are  indebted  to  modern  discovery. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  the  extent  of  the  sufferings 
which  attend  these  forced  emigrations.  They  are  under 
taken  by  a  people  already  exhausted  and  reduced  ;  and  the 
countries  to  which  the  new-comers  betake  themselves  are 
inhabited  by  other  tribes  which  receive  them  with  jealous 
hostility.  Hunger  is  in  the  rear  war  awaits  them,  and 
misery  besets  them  on  all  sides.  In  the  hope  of  escaping 
from  such  a  host  of  enemies,  they  separate,  and  each  indi 
vidual  endeavors  to  procure  the  means  of  supporting  his  ex 
istence  in  solitude  and  secresy,  living  in  the  immensity  of 

*  "  The  Indians,"  says  Messrs.  Clarke  and  Cass  in  their  report  to 
congress,  p.  15,  "are  attached  to  their  country  by  the  same  feelings 
which  bind  us  to  ours  ;  and,  besides,  there  are  certain  superstitious 
notions  connected  with  the  alienation  of  what  the  Great  Spirit  gave  to 
their  ancestors,  which  operate  strongly  upon  the  tribes  who  have 
made  few  or  no  cessions,  but  which  are  gradually  weakened  as  our  in 
tercourse  with  them  is  extended.  '  We  will  not  sell  the  spot  which 
contains  the  bones  of  our  fathers,'  is  almost  always  the  first  answer  to 
a  proposition  for  a  sale." 


344         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

the  desert  like  an  outcast  in  civilized  society.  The  social  tie, 
which  distress  had  long  since  weakened,  is  then  dissolved ; 
.they  have  lost  their  country,  and  their  people  soon  deserts 
them ;  their  very  families  are  obliterated ;  the  names  they 
bore  in  common  are  forgotten,  their  language  perishes,  and 
all  the  traces  of  their  origin  disappear.  Their  nation  has 
ceased  to  exist,  except  in  the  recollection  of  the  antiquaries 
of  America  and  a  few  of  the  learned  of  Europe. 

I  should  be  sorry  to  have  my  reader  suppose  that  I  am  col 
oring  the  picture  too  highly  :  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes  seve 
ral  of  the  cases  of  misery  which  I  have  been  describing  ; 
and  I  was  the  witness  of  sufferings  which  I  have  not  the 
power  to  portray. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1831,  while  I  was  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Mississippi,  at  a  place  named  by  Europeans  Memphis, 
there  arrived  a  numerous  band  of  Choctaws  (or  Chactas,  as 
they  are  called  by  the  French  in  Louisiana).  These  savages 
had  left  their  country,  and  were  endeavoring  to  gain  the  right 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  where  they  hoped  to  find  an  asylum 
which  had  been  promised  them  by  the  American  government. 
It  was  then  in  the  middle  of  winter,  and  the  cold  was  unu 
sually  severe }  the  snow  had  frozen  hard  upon  the  ground, 
and  the  river  was  drifting  huge  masses  of  ice.  The  Indians 
had  their  families  with  them  ;  and  they  brought  in  their  train 
the  wounded  and  the  sick,  with  children  newly  born,  and  old 
men  upon  the  verge  of  death.  They  possessed  neither  tents 
nor  wagons,  but  only  their  arms  and  some  provisions.  I  saw 
them  embark  to  pass  the  mighty  river,  and  never  will  that 
solemn  spectacle  fade  from  my  remembrance.  No  cry,  no 
so|)  was  heard  among  the  assembled  crowd  :  all  were  silent. 
Their  calamities  were  of  ancient  date,  and  they  knew  them 
to  be  irremediable.  The  Indians  had  all  stepped  into  the 
bark  which  was  to  carry  them  across,  but  their  dogs  remained 
upon  the  bank.  As  soon  as  these  animals  perceived  that  their 
masters  were  finally  leaving  the  shore,  they  set  up  a  dismal 
howl,  and  plunging  all  together  into  the  icy  waters  of  the 
Mississippi,  they  swam  after  the  boat. 

The  ejectment  of  the  Indians  very  often  takes  place  at  the 
present  day,  in  a  regular,  and,  as  it  were,  a  legal  manner. 
When  the  European  population  begins  to  approach  the  limit 
of  the  desert  inhabited  by  a  savage  tribe,  the  government  of 
the  United  States  usually  despatches  envoys  to  them,  who 
assemble  the  Indians  in  a  large  plain,  and  having  first  eaten 
and  drunk  with  them,  accost  them  in  the  following  manner : 
"  What  have  you  to  do  in  the  land  of  your  fathers  ?  Before 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  345 

long  you  must  dig  up  their  bones  in  order  to  live.  In  what 
respect  is  the  country  you  inhabit  better  than  another  ?  Are 
there  no  woods,  marshes,  or  prairies,  except  wiiere  you  dwell  ? 
And  can  you  live  nowhere  but  under  your  own  sun  ?  Beyond 
those  mountains  which  you  see  at  the  horizon,  beyond  the  lake 
which  bounds  your  territory  on  the  west,  there  lie  vast  coun 
tries  where  beasts  of  chase  are  found  in  great  abundance ; 
sell  your  land  to  us,  and  go  to  live  happily  in  those  solitudes." 
After  holding  this  language,  they  spread  before  the  eyes  of 
the  Indians  fire-arms,  woollen  garments,  kegs  of  brandy, 
glass  necklaces,  bracelets  of  tinsel,  ear-rings,  and  looking- 
glasses.*  If,  when  they  have  beheld  all  these  riches,  they 
still  hesitate,  it  is  insinuated  that  they  have  not  the  means 
of  refusing  their  required  consent,  and  that  the  govern 
ment  itself  will  not  long  have  the  power  of  protecting  them  in 
their  rights.  What  are  they  to  do  ?  Half  convinced  and 
half  compelled,  they  go  to  inhabit  new  deserts,  where  the  im 
portunate  whites  will  not  let  them  remain  ten  years  in  tran 
quillity.  In  this  manner  do  the  Americans  obtain  at  a  very 
low  price  whole  provinces,  which  the  richest  sovereigns  of 
Europe  could  not  purchase.* 

*  See  in  the  legislative  documents  of  congress  (Doc.  117),  the  narra 
tive  of  what  takes  place  on  these  occasions.  This  curious  passage  is 
from  the  abovementioned  report,  made  to  congress  by  Messrs.  Clarke 
and  Cass,  in  February,  1829.  Mr.  C ass  is  now  secretary  of  war. 

"  The  Indians,"  says  the  report,  "  reach  the  treaty-ground  poor,  and 
almost  naked.  Large  quantities  of  goods  are  taken  there  by  the  traders, 
and  are  seen  and  examined  by  the  Indians.  The  women  and  children 
become  importunate  to  have  their  wants  supplied,  and  their  influence 
is  soon  exerted  to  induce  a  sale.  Their  improvidence  is  habitual  and 
unconquerable.  The  gratification  of  his  immediate  wants  and  desires 
is  the  ruling  passion  of  an  Indian  :  the  expectation  of  future  advantages 
seldom  produces  much  effect.  The  experience  of  the  past  is  lost,  and 
the  prospects  of  the  future  disregarded.  It  would  be  utterly  hopeless 
to  demand  a  cession  of  land  unless  the  means  were  at  hand  of  gratify 
ing  their  immediate  wants;  and  when  their  condition  and  circum 
stances  are  fairly  considered,  it  ought  not  to  surprise  us  that  they  are 
so  anxious  to  relieve  themselves." 

t  On  the  J9th  of  May,  1830,  Mr.  Edward  Everett  affirmed  before  the 
house  of  representatives,  that  the  Americans  had  already  acquired  by 
treaty,  to  the  east  and  west  of  the  Mississippi,  230,000,000  of  acres. 
In  1SOS,  the  Osages  gave  up  48,000,000  acres  for  an  annual  payment 
of  1,000  dollars.  In  1813,,  the  Quapaws  yielded  up  29,000,000  acres 
for  4,000  dollars.  They  reserved  for  themselves  a  territory  of  1 ,000,000 
acres  for  a  hunting-ground.  A  solemn  oath  was  taken  that  it  should 
be  respected  :  but  before  long  it  was  invaded  like  the  rest. 

Mr.  Bell,  in  his  "  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs,"  Feb 
ruary  24th,  1830,  has  these  words:  "To  pay  an  Indian  tribe  what 
their  ancient  hunting-grounds  are  worth  to  them,  after  the  game  is 
fled  or  destroyed,  as  a  mode  of  appropriating  wild  lands  claimed  by  In- 


346         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

These  are  great  evils,  and  it  must  be  added  that  they  ap 
pear  to  me  to  be  irremediable.  I  believe  that  the  Indian 
nations  of  North  America  are  doomed  to  perish :  and  that 
whenever  the  Europeans  shall  be  established  on  the  shores  of 
the  Pacific  ocean,  that  race  of  men  will  be  no  more.*  The 
Indians  had  only  the  two  alternatives  of  war  or  civilisation ; 
in  other  words,  they  must  either  have  destroyed  the  Europe 
ans  or  become  their  equals. 

At  the  first  settlement  of  the  colonies  they  might  have 
found  it  possible,  by  uniting  their  forces,  to  deliver  themselves 
from  the  small  bodies  of  strangers  who  landed  on  their  conti 
nent. f  They  several  times  attempted  to  do  it,  and  were  on 
the  point  of  succeeding ;  but  the  disproportion  of  their 
resources,  at  the  present  day,  when  compared  with  those  of 
the  whites,  is  too  great  to  allow  such  an  enterprise  to  be 
thought  of.  Nevertheless,  there  do  arise  from  time  to  time 
among  the  Indians  men  of  penetration,  who  foresee  the  final 
destiny  which  awaits  the  native  population,  and  who  exert 
themselves  to  unite  all  the  tribes  in  common  hostility  to  the 
Europeans ;  but  their  efforts  are  unavailing.  Those  tribes 
which  are  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  whites  are  too  much 
weakened  to  offer  an  effectual  resistance  ;  while,  the  others, 
giving  way  to  that  childish  carelessness  of  the  morrow  which 
characterizes  savage  life,  wait  for  the  near  approach  of  dan- 

dians,  has  been  found  more  convenient,  and  certainly  it  is  more  agree 
able  to  the  forms  of  justice,  as  well  as  more  merciful,  than  to  assert  the 
possession  of  them  by  the  sword.  Thus  the  practice  of  buying  Indian 
titles  is  but  the  substitute  which  humanity  and  expediency  have  im 
posed,  in  place  of  the  sword,  in  arriving  at  the  actual  enjoyment  of 
property  claimed  by  the  right  of  discovery,  and  sanctioned  by  the  natu 
ral  superiority  allowed  to  the  claims  of  civilized  communities  over 
those  of  savage  tribes.  Up  to  the  present  time,  so  invariable  has  been 
the  operation  of  certain  causes,  first  in  diminishing  the  value  of  forest 
lands  to  the  Indians,  and  secondly  in  disposing  them  to  sell  readily, 
that  the  plan  of  buying  their  right  of  occupancy'has  never  threatened 
to  retard,  in  any  perceptible  degree,  the  prosperity  of  any  of  the 
states. '  (Legislative  documents,  21st  congress,  No.  227,  p.  6.) 

*  This  seems,  indeed,  to  be  the  opinion  of  almost  all  the  American 
statesmen.  "  Judging  of  the  future  by  the  past,"  says  Mr.  Cass,  "  we 
cannot  err  in  anticipating  a  progressive  diminution  of  their  numbers, 
and  their  eventual  extinction,  unless  our  border  should  become  sta 
tionary,  and  they  be  removed  beyond  it,  or  unless  some  radical  change 
should  take  place  in  the  principles  of  our  intercourse  with  them, 
which  it  is  easier  to  hope  for  than  to  expect." 

f  Among  other  warlike  enterprises,  there  was  one  of  the  Wam- 
panoags,  and  other  confederate  tribes,  under  Metacom  in  1075,  against 
the  colonists  of  New  England ;  the  English  were  also  engaged  in  war 
in  Virginia  in  1622 


THE    THU:;:J    V..CE3    LNiiAlilfl^U     TIIJ    U.   S.  347 

ger  before  they  prepare  to  meet  it  :  some  are  unable,  the 
others  are  unwilling  to  exert  themselves. 

It  is  easy  to  foresee  that  the  Indians  will  never  conform  to 
civilisation  ;  or  that  it  will  be  too  late,  whenever  they  may  be 
inclined  to  make  the  experiment. 

Civilisation  is  the  result  of  a  long  social  process  which 
takes  place  in  the  same  spot,  and  is  handed  down  from  one 
generation  to  another,  each  one  profiting  by  the  experience  of 
the  last.  Of  all  nations,  those  submit  to  civilisation  with  the 
most  difficulty,  which  habitually  live  by  the  chase.  Pastoral 
tribes,  indeed,  often  change  their  place  of  abode  ;  but  they 
follow  in  regular  order  in  their  migrations,  and  often  return 
again  to  their  old  stations,  while  the  dwelling  of  the  hunter 
varies  with  that  of  the  animals  he  pursues. 

Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  diffuse  knowledge 
among  the  Indians,  without  controlling  their  wandering  pro 
pensities  ;  by  the  Jesuits  in  Canada,  and  by  the  puritans  in 
New  England  ;*  but  none  of  these  endeavors  were  crowned 
by  any  lasting  success.  Civilisation  began  in  the  cabin,  but 
it  soon  retired  to  expire  in  the  woods  ;  the  great  error  of  these 
legislators  of  the  Indians  was  their  not  understanding,  that  in 
order  to  succeed  in  civilizing  a  people,  it  is  first  necessary  to 
fix  it ;  which  cannot  be  done  without  inducing  it  to  cultivate 
the  soil  :  the  Indians  ought  in  the  first  place  to  have  been  ac 
customed  to  agriculture.  But  not  only  are  they  destitute  of 
this  indispensable  preliminary  to  civilisation,  they  would  even 
have  great  difficulty  in  acquiring  it.  Men  who  have  once 
abandoned  themselves  to  the  restless  and  adventurous  life  of 
the  hunter,  feel  an  insurmountable  disgust  for  the  constant 
and  regular  labor  which  tillage  requires.  We  see  this 
proved  in  the  bosom  of  our  own  society  ;  but  it  is  far  more 
visible  among  peoples  whose  partiality  for  the  chase  is  a  part 
of  their  natural  character. 

Independently  of  this  general  difficulty,  there  is  another, 
which  applies  peculiarly  to  the  Indians  ;  they  consider  labor 
not  merely  as  an  evil,  but  as  a  disgrace  ;  so  that  their  pride 
prevents  them  from  becoming  civilized,  as  much  as  their 
indolence. f 

*  See  the  "  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  by  Charlevoix,  and 
the  work  entitled  "  Lettres  Edifiantes." 

t  "  In  all  the  tribes,"  says  Volney,  in  his  "  Tableau  des  EtatsUnis," 
p.  423,  "  there  still  exists  a  generation  of  old  warriors,  who  cannot 
forbear,  when  they  see  their  countrymen  using  the  hoe,  from  exclaim 
ing  against  the  degradation  of  ancient  manners,  and  asserting  that  the 
savages  owe  their  decline  to  these  innovations  :  adding,  that  they  have 
only  to  return  to  their  primitive  habits,  in  order  to  recover  their  power 
and  their  cjlorv  " 


348  PRESENT    AND    FJTCJK3    CONDITION    OF 

There  is  no  Indian  so  wretched  as  not  to  retain,  under  his 
hut  of  bark,  a  lofty  idea  of  his  personal  worth ;  he  considers 
the  cares  of  industry  and  labor  as  degrading  occupations ,  he 
compares  the  husbandman  to  the  ox  which  traces  the  furrow ; 
and  even  in  our  most  ingenious  handicraft,  he  can  see  nothing 
but  the  labor  of  slaves.  Not  that  he  is  devoid  of  admiration 
for  the  power  and  intellectual  greatness  of  the  whites ;  but 
although  the  result  of  our  efforts  surprises  him,  he  contemns 
the  means  by  which  we  obtain  it ;  and  while  he  acknowledges 
our  ascendency,  he  still  believes  in  his  superiority.  War  and 
hunting  are  the  only  pursuits  which  appear  to  him  worthy  to 
be  the  occupations  of  a  man.*  The  Indian,  in  the  dreary 
solitude  of  his  woods,  cherishes  the  same  ideas,  the  same 
opinions,  as  the  noble  of  the  middle  ages  in  his  castle,  and  he 
only  requires  to  become  a  conqueror  to  complete  the  resem 
blance  ;  thus,  however  strange  it  may  seem,  it  is  in  the  forests 
of  the  New  World,  and  not  among  the  Europeans  who  people 
its  coasts,  that  the  ancient  prejudices  of  Europe  are  still  in 
existence. 

More  than  once,  in  the  course  of  this  work,  I  have  endea 
vored  to  explain  the  prodigious  influence  which  the  social 
condition  appears  to  exercise  upon  the  laws  and  the  manners 
of  men  ;  and  I  beg  to  add  a  few  words  on  the  same  subject. 
When  I  perceive  the  resemblance  which  exists  between  the 
political  institutions  of  our  ancestors,  the  Germans,  and  of  the 
wandering  tribes  of  North  America:  between  the  customs 
described  by  Tacitus,  and  those  of  which  I  have  sometimes 
been  a  witness,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  same  cause 
has  brought  about  the  same  results  in  both  hemispheres ;  and 
that  in  the  midst  of  the  apparent  diversity  of  human  affairs,  a 
certain  number  of  primary  facts  may  be  discovered,  from 
which  all  the  others  are  derived.  In  what  we  usually  call 
the  German  institutions,  then,  I  am  inclined  only  to  perceive 

*  The  following  description  occurs  in  an  official  document :  "  Until 
a  young  man  has  been  engaged  with  an  enemy,  and  has  performed 
some  acts  of  valor,  he  gains  no  consideration,  but  is  regarded  nearly  as 
a  \voinan.  In  their  great  war-dances  ;ill  the  warriors  in  succession 
strike  the  post,  as  it  is  called,  and  recount  their  exploits.  On  these 
occasions  their  auditory  consists  of  the  kinsmen,  friends,  and  comrades 
of  the  narrator.  The  profound  impression  which  his  discourse  pro 
duces  on  them  is  manifested  by  the  silent  attention  it  receives,  and  by 
the  loud  shouts  which  hail  its  termination.  The  young  man  who  finds 
himself  at  such  a  meeting  without  anything  to  recount,  is  very  un 
happy  ;  and  instances  have  sometimes  occurred  of  young  warriors 
whose  passions  had  been  thus  inflamed,  quitting  the  war-dance  sud 
denly,  and  going  off  alone  to  seek  for  trophies  which  they  might  exhi 
bit,  and  adventures  which  they  might  be  allowed  to  relate. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  349 

barbarian  habits ;  and  the  opinions  of  savages,  in  what  we 
style  feudal  principles. 

However  strongly  the  vices  and  prejudices  of  the  North 
American  Indians  may  be  opposed  to  their  becoming  agricul 
tural  and  civilized,  necessity  sometimes  obliges  them  to  it. 
Several  of  the  southern  nations,  and  among  them  the  Cherokees 
and  the  Creeks,*  were  surrounded  by  Europeans,  who  had 
landed  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  and  who,  either  descend 
ing  the  Ohio  or  proceeding  up  the  Mississippi,  arrived  simul 
taneously  upon  their  borders.  These  tribes  have  not  been 
driven  from  place  to  place,  like  their  northern  brethren  ;  but 
they  have  been  gradually  enclosed  within  narrow  limits,  like 
the  game  within  the  thicket  before  the  huntsmen  plunge  into 
the  interior.  The  Indians,  who  were  thus  placed  between 
civilisation  and  death,  found  themselves  obliged  to  live  by 
ignominious  labor  like  the  whites.  They  took  to  agriculture, 
and  without  entirely  forsaking  their  old  habits  or  manners, 
sacrificed  only  as  much  as  was  necessary  to  their  existence. 

The  Cherokees  went  further ;  they  created  a  written  lan 
guage  ;  established  a  permanent  form  of  government ;  and 
as  everything  proceeds  rapidly  in  the  New  World,  before 
they  had  all  of  them  clothes,  they  set  up  a  newspaper. f 

The  growth  of  European  habits  has  been  remarkably  ac 
celerated  among  these  Indians  by  the  mixed  race  which  has 
sprung  up.J  Deriving  intelligence  from  the  father's  side, 
without  entirely  losing  the  savage  customs  of  the  mother,  the 
half-blood  forms  the  natural  link  between  civilisation  and 

*  These  nations  are  now  swallowed  up  in  the  states  of  Georgia, 
Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi.  There  were  formerly  in  the 
south  four  great  nations  (remnants  of  which  still  exist),  the  Choctaws, 
the  Chickasaws,  the  Creeks,  and  the  Cherokees.  The  remnants  of 
these  four  nations  amounted,  in  1S30,  to  about  75,000  individuals.  It  is 
computed  that  there  are  now  remaining  in  the  territory  occupied  or 
claimed  by  the  Anglo-American  Union  about  300,000  Indians.  (See 
proceedings  of  the  Indian  board  in  the  city  of  New  York.)  The  official 
documents  supplied  to  congress  make  the  number  amount  to  313,130. 
The  reader  who  is  curious  to  know  the  names  and  numerical  strength 
of.  all  the  tribes  which  inhabit  the  Anglo-American  territory,  should 
consult  the  documents  I  refer  to.  (Legislative  Documents,  2Sth  con 
gress,  No.  117,  pp.  90-105.) 

f  I  brought  back  with  me  to  France,  one  or  two  copies  of  this 
singular  publication. 

J  See  in  the  report  of  the  committee  on  Indian  affairs,  21st  congress, 
No.  227,  p.  23,  the  reasons  for  the  multiplication  of  Indians  of  mixed 
blood  among  the  Cherokees.  The  principal  cause  dates  from  the  war 
of  independence.  Many  Anglo-Americans  of  Georgia,  having  taken  the 
side  of  England,  were  obliged  to  retreat  among  the  Indians,  where 
they  married. 


350         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

barbarism.  Wherever  this  race  has  multiplied,  the  savage 
state  has  become  modified,  and  a  great  change  has  taken 
place  in  the  manners  of  the  people.* 

The  success  of  the  Cherokees  proves  that  the  Indians  are 
capable  of  civilisation,  but  it  does  not  prove  that  they  will 
succeed  in  it.  The  difficulty  which  the  Indians  find  in  sub 
mitting  to  civilisation  proceeds  from  the  influence  of  a  general 
cause,  which  it  is  almost  impossible  for  them  to  escape.  An 
attentive  survey  of  history  demonstrates  that,  in  general,  bar 
barous  nations  have  raised  themselves  to  civilisation  by  de 
grees,  and  by  their  own  efforts.  Whenever  they  derived 
knowledge  from  a  foreign  people,  they  stood  toward  it  in  the 
relation  of  conquerors,  not  of  a  conquered  nation.  When  the 
conquered  nation  is  enlightened,  and  the  conquerors  are  half 
savage,  as  in  the  case  of  the  invasion  of  Rome  by  the  north 
ern  nations,  or  that  of  China  by  the  Moguls,  the  power  which 
victory  bestows  upon  the  barbarian  is  sufficient  to  keep  up 
his  importance  among  civilized  men,  and  permit  him  to  rank 
as  their  equal,  until  he  becomes  their  rival :  the  one  has 
might  on  his  side,  the  other  has  intelligence ;  the  former  ad 
mires  the  knowledge  and  the  arts  of  the  conquered,  the  latter 
envies  the  power  of  the  conquerors.  The  barbarians  at 
length  admit  civilized  man  into  their  palaces,  and  he  in  turn 
opens  his  schools  to  the  barbarians.  But  when  the  side  on 

*  Unhappily  the  mixed  race  has  been  less  numerous  and  less  influential 
in  North  America  than  in  any  other  country.  The  American  continent 
was  peopled  by  two  great  nations  of  Europe,  the  French  and  the  Eng 
lish.  The  former  were  not  slow  in  connecting  themselves  with  the 
daughters  of  the  natives ;  but  there  was  an  unfortunate  affinity  between 
the  Indian  character  and  their  own :  instead  of  giving  the  tastes  and 
habits  of  civilized  life  to  the  savages,  the  French  too  often  grew  pas 
sionately  fond  of  the  state  of  wild  freedom  they  found  them  in.  They 
became  the  most  dangerous  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  desert,  and  won  the 
friendship  of  the  Indian  by  exaggerating  his  vices  and  his  virtues.  M. 
de  Senonville,  the  governor  of  Canada,  wrote  thus  to  Louis  XIV.,  in 
1685  :  "  It  has  long  been  believed  that  in  order  to  civilize  the  savages 
we  ought  to  draw  them  nearer  to  us,  but  there  is  every  reason  to  sup 
pose  we  have  been  mistaken.  Those  which  have  been  brought  into 
contact  with  us  have  not  become  French,  and  the  French  who  have 
lived  anioii^  them  are  changed  into  savii^es,  affecting  to  live  and  dress 
like  them."  (History  of  New  France,  by  Charlevoix,  vol.  ii.,  p.  345). 
The  Englishman,  on  the  contrary,  continuing  obstinately  attached  to 
the  customs  and  the  most  insignificant  habits  of  his  forefathers,  has  re 
mained  in  the  midst  of  the  American  solitudes  just  what  he  was  in 
the  bosom  of  European  cities  ;  he  would  not  allow  of  any  communica 
tion  with  savages  whom  he  despised,  and  avoided  with  care  the  union 
of  his  race  with  theirs.  Thus,  while  the  French  exercised  no  salutary 
influence  over  the  Indians,  the  English  have  always  remained  alien 
from  them. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  351 

which  the  physical  force  lies,  also  possesses  an  intellectual 
preponderance,  the  conquered  party  seldom  becomes  civilized  ; 
it  retreats,  or  is  destroyed.  It  may  .therefore  be  said,  in  a 
general  way,  that  savages  go  forth  in  arms  to  seek  know- 
ledge,  but  that  they  do  not  receive  it  when  it  comes  to  them. 
If  the  Indian  tribes  which  now  inhabit  the  heart  of  the  con 
tinent  could  summon  up  energy  enough  to  attempt  to  civilize 
themselves,  they  might  possibly  succeed.  Superior  already 
to  the  barbarous  nations  which  surround  them,  they  would 
gradually  gain  strength  and  experience  ;  and  when  the  Eu 
ropeans  should  appear  upon  their  borders,  they  would  be  in 
a  state,  if  not  to  maintain  their  independence,  at  least  to  as 
sert  their  right  to  the  soil,  and  to  incorporate  themselves  with 
the  conquerors.  But  it  is  the  misfortune  of  Indians  to  be 
brought  into  contact  with  a  civilized  people,  which  is  also  (it 
may  be  owned)  the  most  avaricious  nation  on  the  globe, 
while  they  are  still  semi- barbarian  :  to  find  despots  in  their 
instructors,  and  to  receive  knowledge  from  the  hand  of  op 
pression.  Living  in  the  freedom  of  the  woods,  the  North 
American  Indian  Was  destitute,  but  he  had  no  feeling  of  in 
feriority  toward  any  one  ;  as  soon,  however,  as  he  desires  to 
penetrate  into  the  social  scale  of  the  whites,  he  takes  the  low 
est  rank  in  society,  for  he  enters  ignorant  and  poor  within  the 
pale  of  science  and  wealth.  After  having  led  a  life  of  agita 
tion,  beset  with  evils  and  dangers,  but  at  the  same  time  filled 
with  proud  emotions,*  he  is  obliged  to  submit  to  a  wearisome, 

*  There  is  in  the  adventurous  life  of  the  hunter  a  certain  irresistible 
charm  which  seizes  the  heart  of  man,  and  carries  him  away  in  spite  of 
reason  and  experience.  This  is  plainly  shown  by  the  memoirs  of 
Tanner.  Tanner  is  a  European  who  was  carried  away  at  the  age  of 
six  by  the  Indians,  and  has  remained  thirty  years  with  them  in  the 
woods.  Nothing  can  be  conceived  more  appalling  than  the  miseries 
which  he  describes.  He  tells  us  of  tribes  without  a  chief,  families 
without  a  nation  to  call  their  own,  men  in  a  state  of  isolation,  wrecks 
of  powerful  tribes  wandering  at  random  amid  the  ice  and  snow  and 
desolate  solitudes  of  Canada.  Hunger  and  cold  pursue  them  ;  every 
day  their  life  is  in  jeopardy.  Among  these  men  manners  have  lost 
their  empire,  traditions  are  without  power.  They  become  more  and 
mare  savage.  Tanner  shared  in  all  these  miseries ;  he  was  aware  of 
hjji  European  origin  ;  he  was  not  kept  away  from  the  whites  by  force  ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  came  every  year  to  trade  with  them,  entered  their 
dwellings,  and  saw  their  enjoyments  ;  he  knew  that  whenever  he  chose 
to  return  to  civilized  life,  he  was  perfectly  able  to  do  so — and  he  re 
mained  thirty  years  in  the  deserts.  When  he  came  to  civilized  socie 
ty,  he  declared  that  the  rude  existence  which  he  described  had  a 
secret  charm  for  him  which  he  was  unable  to  define :  he  returned  to  it 
again  and  again:  at  length  he  abandoned  it  with  poignant  regret ;  and 
when  he  was  at  length  fixed  among  the  whites,  several  of  his  children 
refused  to  share  his  tranquil  and  easy  situation.  I  saw  Tanner  myself 


352  PRESENT   AND    FUTURE    CONDITION    OF 

obscure,  and  degraded  state,  and  to  gain  the  bread  which 
nourishes  him  by  hard  and  ignoble  labor ;  such  are  in  his 
eyes  the  only  results  of  which  civilisation  can  boast:  and 
even  this  much  he  is  not  sure  to  obtain. 

When  the  Indians  undertake  to  imitate  their  European 
neighbors,  and  to  till  the  earth  like  the  settlers,  they  are  im 
mediately  exposed  to  a  very  formidable  competition.  The 
white  man  is  skilled  in  the  craft  of  agriculture  ;  the  Indian  is  a 
rough  beginner  in  an  art  with  which  he  is  unacquainted. ,  The 
former  reaps  abundant  crops  without  difficulty,  the  latter  meets 
with  a  thousand  obstacles  in  raising  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 

The  European  is  placed  among  a  population  whose  wants 
he  knows  and  partakes.  The  savage  is  isolated  in  the  midst 
of  a  hostile  people,  with  whose  manners,  language  and  laws, 
he  is  imperfectly  acquainted,  but  without  whose  assistance 
he  cannot  live.  He  can  only  procure  the  materials  of 
comfort  by  bartering  his  commodities  against  the  goods  of  the 
European,  for  the  assistance  of  his  countrymen  is  wholly  in 
sufficient  to  supply  his  wants.  When  the  Indian  wishes  to 
sell  the  produce  of  his  labor,  he  cannot  always  meet  with  a 
purchaser,  while  the  European  readily  finds  a  market ;  and 
the  former  can  only  produce  at  a  considerable  cost,  that 
which  the  latter  vends  at  a  very  low  rate.  Thus  the  Indian 
has  no  sooner  escaped  those  evils  to  which  barbarous  nations 
are  exposed,  than  he  is  subjected  to  the  still  greater  miseries 
of  civilized  communities  ;  and  he  finds  it  scarcely  less  diffi 
cult  to  live  in  the  midst  of  our  abundance,  than  in  the  depth 
of  his  own  wilderness. 

He  has  not  yet  lost  the  habits  of  his  erratic  life ;  the  tradi 
tions  of  his  fathers  and  his  passion  for  the  chase  are  still  alive 
within  him.  The  wild  enjoyments  which  formerly  animated 
him  in  the  woods  painfully  excite  his  troubled  imagination ; 
and  his  former  privations  appear  to  be  less  keen,  his  former 
perils  less  appalling.  He  contrasts  the  independence  which 
he  possessed  among  his  equals  with  the  servile  position  which 
he  occupies  in  civilized  society.  On  the  other  hand,  the  soli 
tudes  which  were  so  long  his  free  home  are  still  at  hand ;  a 
few  hours'  march  will  bring  him  back  to  them  once  more. 
The  whites  offer  him  a  sum,  which  seems  to  him  to  be  con 
siderable,  for  the  ground  which  he  has  begun  to  clear.  This 
money  of  the  Europeans  may  possibly  furnish  him  with  the 

at  the  lower  end  of  Lake  Superior  ;  he  seemed  to  be  more  like  a  savage 
than  a  civilized  being.  His  book  is  written  without  either  taste  or  or 
der ;  but  he  gives,  even  unconsciously,  a  lively  picture  of  the  prejudices, 
the  passions,  vices,  and,  above  all,  of  the  destitution  in  which  he  lived. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  333 

means  of  a  happy  and  peaceful  subsistence  in  remote  regions  ; 
and  he  quits  the  plough,  resumes  his  native  arms,  and  returns 
to  the  wilderness  for  ever.*  The  condition  of  the  Creeks 
and  Cherokees,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  sufficiently 
corroborates  the  truth  of  this  deplorable  picture. 

The  Indians,  in  the  little  which  they  have  done,  have  un 
questionably  displayed  as  much  natural  genius  as  the  peoples 
of  Europe  in  their  most  important  designs  •  but  nations  as 
well  as  men.  require  time  to  learn,  whatever  may  be  their  in 
telligence  and  their  zeal.  While  the  savages  were  engaged 
in  the  work  of  civilisation,  the  Europeans  continued  to  sur 
round  them  on  every  side,  and  to  confine  them  within  nar 
rower  limits  ;  the  two  races  gradually  met,  and  they  are  now 
in  immediate  juxtaposition  to  each  other.  The  Indian  is 
already  superior  to  his  barbarous  parent,  but  he  is  still  very 
far  below  his  white  neighbor.  With  their  resources  and  ac 
quired  knowledge,  the  Europeans  soon  appropriated  to  them- 

*  The  destructive  influence  of  highly  civilized  nations  upon  others 
which  are  less  so,  has  been  exemplified  by  the  Europeans  themselves. 
About  a  century  ago  the  French  founded  the  town  of  Vincennes  upon 
the  Wabash,  in  the  middle  of  the  desert ;  and  they  lived  there  in  great 
plenty,  until  the  arrival  of  the  American  settlers,  who  first  ruined  the 
previous  inhabitants  by  their  competition,  and  afterward  purchased 
their  lands  at  a  very  low  rate.  At  the  time  when  M.  de  Volney,  from 
whom  I  borrow  these  details,  passed  through  Vincennes,  the  number 
of  the  French  was  reduced  to  a  hundred  individuals,  most  of  whom 
were  about  to  pass  over  to  Louisiana  or  to  Canada.  These  French 
settlers  were  worthy  people,  but  idle  and  uninstructed  :  they  had  con 
tracted  many  of  the  habits  of  the  savages.  The  Americans,  who  were 
perhaps  their  inferiors  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  were  immeasurably 
superior  to  them  in  intelligence :  they  were  industrious,  well-informed, 
rich,  and  accustomed  to  govern  their  own  community. 

1  myself  saw  in  Canada,  where  the  intellectual  difference  between 
the  two  races  is  less  striking,  that  the  English  are  the  masters  of  com 
merce  and  manufacture  in  the  Canadian  country,  that  they  spread  on 
all  sides,  and  confine  the  French  within  limits  which  scarcely  suffice 
to  contain  them.  In  like  manner,  in  Louisiana,  almost  all  activity  in 
commerce  and  manufacture  centres  in  the  hands  of  the  Anglo-Ameri 
cans. 

But  the  case  of  Texas  is  still  more  striking :  the  state  of  Texas  is  a 
part  of  Mexico,  and  ,lies  upon  the  frontier  between  that  country  and 
the  United  States.  In  the  course  of  the  last  few  years  the  Anglo- 
Americans  have  penetrated  into  this  province,  which  is  still  thinly 
peopled;  they  purchase  land,  they  produce  the  commodities  of  the 
country,  and  supplant  the  original  population.  It  may  easily  be  fore 
seen  that  if  Mexico  takes  no  steps  to  check  this  change,  the  province 
of  Texas  will  very  shortly  cease  to  belong  to  that  government. 

If  the  different  degrees,  comparatively  so  light,  which  exist  in  Eu 
ropean  civilisation,   produce  results  of  such   magnitude,  the  conse 
quences  which  must  ensue  from  the  collision  of  the  most  perfect 
European  civilisation  with  Indian  savages  may  readily  be  conceived. 
23 


354  PRESENT   AND   FUTURE   CONDITION    OF 

selves  most  of  the  advantages  which  the  natives  might  have 
derived  from, the  possession  of  the  soil :  they  have  settled  in 
the  country,  they  have  purchased  land  at  a  very  low  rate  or 
have  occupied  it  by  force,  and  the  Indians  have  been  ruined 
by  a  competition  which  they  had  not  the  means  of  resisting. 
They  were  isolated  in  their  own  country,  and  their  race  only 
constituted  a  colony  of  troublesome  aliens  in  the  midst  of  a 
numerous  and  domineering  people.* 

Washington  said  in  one  of  his  messages  to  congress,  "  We 
are  more  enlightened  and  powerful  than  the  Indian  nations, 
we  are  therefore  bound  in  honor  to  treat  them  with  kindness 
and  even  with  generosity."  But  this  virtuous  and  high- 
minded  policy  has  not  been  followed.  The  rapacity  of  the 
•settlers  is  usually  backed  by  the  tyranny  of  the  government. 
Although  the  Cherokees  and  the  Creeks  are  established  upon 
the  territory  which  they  inhabited  before  the  settlement  of  the 
Europeans,  and  although  the  Americans  have  frequently 
treated  with  them  as  with  foreign  nations,  the  surrounding 
states  have  not  consented  to  acknowledge  them  as  an  inde 
pendent  people,  and  attempts  have  been  made  to  subject 
these  children  of  the  woods  to  Anglo-American  magistrates, 
laws,  and  customs.f  Destitution  had  driven  these  unfortu- 


,  *  See  in  the  legislative  documents  (21st  congress,  No.  89),  instances 
of  excesses  of  every  kind  committed  by  the  whites  upon  the  territory 
of  the  Indians,  either  in  taking  possession  of  a  part  of  their  lands,  un 
til  compelled  to  retire  by  the  troops  of  congress,  or  carrying  off  their 
cattle,  burning  their  houses,  cutting  down  their  corn,  and  doing  vio 
lence  to  their  persons. 

It  appears,  nevertheless,  from  all  these  documents,  that  the  claims  of 
the  natives  are  constantly  protected  by  the  government  from  the  abuse 
of  force.  The  Union  has  a  representative  agent  continually  employed 
to  reside  among  the  Indians ;  and  the  report  of  the  Cherokee  agent, 
which  is  among  the  documents  I  have  referred  to,  is  almost  always  fa 
vorable  to  the  Indians.  "  The  intrusion  of  whites,"  he  says,  "  upon 
the  lands  of  the  Cherokees  would  cause  ruin  to  the  poor,  helpless,  and 
inoffensive  inhabitants."  And  he  farther  remarks  upon  the  attempt  of 
the  state  of  Georgia  to  establish  a  division  line  for  the  purpose  of  limit 
ing  the  boundaries  of  the  Cherokees,  that  the  line  drawn  having  been 
made  by  the  whites,  and  entirely  upon  exparte  evidence  of  their  seve 
ral  rights,  was  of  no  validity  whatever. 

t  In  1829  the  state  of  Alabama  divided  the  Creek  territory  into 
counties,  and  subjected  the  Indian  population  to  the  power  of  Euro 
pean  magistrates. 

In  1830  the  state  of  Mississippi  assimilated  the  Choctaws  and  Chick- 
asaws  to  the  white  population,  and  declared  that  any  of  them  that 
should  take  the  title  of  chief  would  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  1,000 
dollars  and  a  year's  imprisonment.  When  these  laws  were  enforced 
upon  the  Choctaws  who  inhabited  that  district,  the  tribes  assembled, 
their  chief  communicated  to  them  the  intentions  of  the  whites,  and 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.   S.  355 

nate  Indians  to  civilisation,  and  oppression  now  drives  them 
back  to  their  former  condition ;  many  of  them  abandon  the 
soil  which  they  had  begun  to  clear,  and  return  to  their  savage 
course  of  life. 

If  we  consider  the  tyrannical  measures  which  have  been 
adopted  by  the  legislatures  of  the  southern  states,  the  con 
duct  of  their  governors,  and  the  decrees  of  their  courts  of 
justice,  we  shall  be  convinced  that  the  entire  expulsion  of  the 
Indians  is  the  final  result  to  which  the  efforts  of  their  policy 
are  directed.  The  Americans  of  that  part  of  the  Union  look 
with  jealousy  upon  the  aborigines,*  they  are  aware  that  these 
tribes  have  not  yet  lost  the  traditions  of  savage  life,  and  before 
civilisation  has  permanently  fixed  them  to  the  soil,  it  is  in 
tended  to  force  them  to  recede  by  reducing  them  to  despair. 
The  Creeks  and  Cherokees.  oppressed  by  the  several  states, 
have  appealed  to  the  central  government,  which  is  by  no 
means  insensible  to  their  misfortunes,  and  is  sincerely  desir 
ous  of  saving  the  remnant  of  the  natives,  and  of  maintaining 
them  in  the  free  possession  of  that  territory  which  the  Union 
is  pledged  to  respect. f  But  the  several  states  oppose  so  for 
midable  a  resistance  to  the  execution  of  this  design,  that  the 
government  is  obliged  to  consent  to  the  extirpation  of  a  few 
barbarous  tribes  in  order  not  to  endanger  the  safety  of  the 
American  Union. 

But  the  federal  government,  which  is  not  able  to  protect 
the  Indians,  would  fain  mitigate  the  hardships  of  their  lot ; 
and,  with  this  intention,  proposals  have  been  made  to  transport 
them  into  more  remote  regions  at  the  public  cost. 

Between  the  33d  and  37th  degrees  of  north  latitude,  a  vast 
tract  of  country  lies,  which  has  taken  the  name  of  Arkansas, 
from  the  principal  river  that  waters  its  extent.  It  is  bounded 
on  the  one  side  by  the  confines  of  Mexico,  on  the  other  by  the 
Mississippi.  Numberless  streams  cross  it  in  every  direction; 
the  climate  is  mild,  and  the  soil  productive,  but  it  is  only -in- 
read  to  them  some  of  the  laws  to  which  it  was  intended  that  they 
should  submit ;  and  they  unanimously  declared  that  it  was  better  at 
once  to  retreat  again  into  the  vv'.lds. 

*  The  Georgians,  who  are  sc  much  annoyed  by  the  proximity  of  the 
Indians,  inhabit  a  territory  which  does  not  at  present  contain  more 
than  seven  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile.  In  France  there  are  one 
hundred  and  sixty-two  inhabitants  to  the  same  extent  of  country. 

f  In  1818  congress  appointed  commissioners  to  visit  the  Arkansas 
territory  accompanied  by  a  deputation  of  Creeks,  Choctaws,  and 
Chickasaws.  This  expedition  was  commanded  by  Messrs.  Kennerly, 
M'Coy,  Wash  Hood,  and  John  Bell.  See  the  different  reports  of  the 
commissioners,  and  their  journal,  in  the  documents  of  congress,  No.  87, 
house  of  representatives. 


356         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

habiled  by  a  few  wandering  hordes  of  savages.  The  gov 
ernment  of  the  Union  wishes  to  transport  the  broken  remnants 
of  the  indigenous  population  of  the  south,  to  the  portion  of 
this  country  which  is  nearest  to  Mexico,  and  at  a  great  dis 
tance  from  the  American  settlements. 

We  were  assured,  toward  the  end  of  the  year  1831,  that 
10,000  Indians  had  already  gone,  to  the  shores  of  the  Arkan 
sas  ;  and  fresh  detachments  were  constantly  following  them ; 
but  congress  has  been  unable  to  excite  a  unanimous  determi 
nation  in  those  whom  it  is  disposed  to  protect.  Some,  indeed, 
are  willing  to  quit  the  seat  of  oppression,  but  the  most  en 
lightened  members  of  the  community  refuse  to  abandon  their 
recent  dwellings  and  the  springing  crops  ;  they  are  of  opinion 
that  the  work  of  civilisation,  once  interrupted,  will  never  be 
resumed ;  they  fear  that  those  domestic  habits  which  have 
been  so  recently  contracted,  may  be  irrecoverably  lost  in  the 
midst  of  a  country  which  is  still  barbarous,  and  where  nothing 
is  prepared  for  the  subsistence  of  an  agricultural  people  ; 
they  know  that  their  entrance  into  those  wilds  will  be  opposed 
by  inimical  hordes,  and  that  they  have  lost  the  energy  of  bar 
barians,  without  acquiring  the  resources  of  civilisation  to  re 
sist  their  attacks.  Moreover  the  Indians  readily  discover  that 
the  settlement  which  is  proposed  to  them  is  merely  a  tempo 
rary  expedient.  Who  can  assure  them  that  they  will  at 
length  be  allowed  to  dwell  in  peace  in  their  new  retreat  ? 
The  United  States  pledge  themselves  to  the  observance  of  the 
obligation ;  but  the  territory  which  they  at  present  occupy 
was  formerly  secured  to  them  by  the  most  solemn  oaths  of 
Anglo-American  faith.5"  The  American  government  does  not 
indeed  rob  them  of  their  lands,  but  it  allows  perpetual  incur 
sions  to  be  made  on  them.  In  a  few  years  the  same  white 
population  which  now  flocks  around  them,  will  track  them  to 
the  solitudes  of  the  Arkansas  ;  they  will  then  be  exposed  to 
the  same  evils  without  the  same  remedies ;  and  as  the  limits 

*  The  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  made  with  the  Creeks  in  August, 
1790,  is  in  the  following  words  :  "  The  United  States  solemnly  guar 
anty  to  the  Creek  nation  all  their  land  within  the  limits  of  the  Uni.ed 
States." 

The  seventh  article  of  the  treaty  concluded  in  1791  with  the  Chero 
kees  says :  "  The  United  States  solemnly  guaranty  to  the  Cherokee 
nation  all  their  lands  not  hereby  ceded."  The  following  article  declar 
ed  that  if  any  citizen  of  the.  United  States  or  other  settler  not  of  the 
Indian  race,  should  establish  himself  upon  the  territory  of  the  Chero- 
kees,  the  United  States  would  withdraw  their  protection  from  that  in 
dividual,  and  give  him  up  to  be  punished  as  the  Cherokee  nation  should 
think  lit. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  357 

I 

of  the  earth  will  at  last  fail  them,  their  only  refuge  is  the 
grave. 

The  Union  treats  the  Indians  with  less  cupidity  and  rigor 
than  the  policy  of  the  several  states,  but  the  two  governments 
are  alike  destitute  of  good  faith.  The  states  extend  what 
they  are  pleased  to  term  the  benefits  of  their  laws  to  the  In 
dians,  with  a  belief  that  the  tribes  will  recede  rather  than 
submit ;  and  the  central  government,  which  promises  a  per 
manent  refuge  to  these  unhappy  beings,  is  well  aware  of  its 
inability  to  secure  it  to  them.* 

Thus  the  tyranny  of  the  states  obliges  the  savages  to  re 
tire,  the  Union,  by  its  promises  and  resources,  facilitates  their 
retreat ;  and  these  measures  tend  to  precisely  the  same  end.f 
"  By  the  will  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  the  governor  of  the 
whole  world,"  said  the  C'herokees  in  their  petition  to  con- 
gress,J  "  the  red  man  of  America  has  become  small,  and  the 
white  man  great  and  renowned.  When  the  ancestors  of  the 
people  of  these  United  States  first  came  to  the  shores  of 
America,  they  found  the  red  man  strong :  though  he  was 
ignorant  and  savage,  yet  he  received  them  kindly,  and  gave 
them  dry  land  to  rest  their  weary  feet.  They  met  in  peace, 
and  shook  hands  in  token  of  friendship.  Whatever  the  white 
man  wanted  and  asked  of  the  Indian,  the  latter  willingly 

*  This  does  not  prevent  them  from  promising  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  to  do  so.  See  the  letter  of  the  president  addressed  to  the 
Creek  Indians,  23d  March,  1829.  ("  Proceedings  of  the  Indian  Board, 
in  the  City  of  New  York,"  p.  5.)  "  Beyond  the  great  river  Mis 
sissippi,  where  a  part  of  your  nation  has  gone,  your  father  has  pro 
vided  a  country  large  enough  for  all  of  you,  and  he  advises  you  to  re 
move  to  it.  There  your  white  brothers  will  not  trouble  you  ;  they 
will  have  no  claim  to  the  land,  and  you  can  live  upon  it,  you  and  all 
your  children,  as  long  as  the  grass  grows  or  the  water  runs,  in  peace 
and  plenty.  It  will  be  yours  for  ever." 

The  secretary  of  war,  in  a  letter  written  to  the  Cherokees,  April 
18th,  1829  (see  the  same  work,  .page  6),  declares  to  them  that  they 
cannot  expect  to  retain  possession  of  the  land,  at  the  time  occupied  by 
them,  but  gives  them  the  most  positive  assurance  of  uninterrupted 
peace  if  they  would  remove  beyond  the  Mississippi :  as  if  the  power 
which  could  not  grant  them  protection  then,  would  be  able  to  afford  it 
them  hereafter ! 

t  To  obtain  a  correct  idea  of  the  policy  pursued  by  the  several 
states  and  the  Union  with  respect  to  the  Indians,  it  is  necessary  to 
consult,  1st,  "  The  laws  of  the  colonial  and  state  governments  relating 
to  the  Indian  inhabitants."  (See  the  legislative  documents,  21st  con 
gress,  No.  3'.9.)  2d,  "  The  laws  of  the  Union  on  the  same  subject, 
and  especially  that  of  March  2Uth,  1S02."  See  Story's  Laws  of  the 
United  States.)  3d,  "  The  report  of  Mr.  Cass,  secretary  of  war,  re 
lative  to  Indian  affairs,  November  29th,  1823. 

J  December  18th,  1829 


358         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF         i 

gave.  At  that  time  the  Indian  was  the  lord,  and  Uie  white 
man  the  suppliant.  But  now  the  scene  has  changed.  The 
strength  of  the  red  man  has  become  weakness.  As  his 
neighbors  increased  in  numbers,  his  power  became  less  and 
less,  and  now,  of  the  many  and  powerful  tribes  who  once 
covered  the  United  States,  only  a  few  are  to  be  seen — a  few 
whom  a  sweeping  pestilence  had  left.  The  northern  tribes, 
who  were  once  so  numerous  and  powerful,  are  now  nearly 
extinct.  Thus  it  has  happened  to  the  red  man  of  America. 
Shall  we,  who  are  remnants,  share  the  same  fate  ? 

"  The  land'on  which  we  stand  we  have  received  as  an  in 
heritance  from  our  fathers  who  possessed  it  from  time  imrne 
morial,  as  a  gift  from  our  common  Father  in  heaven.  They 
bequeathed  it  to  us  as  their  children,  and  we  have  sacredly 
kept  it,  as  containing  their  remains.  This  right  of  inherit 
ance  we  have  never  ceded,  nor  ever  forfeited.  Permit  us  to 
ask  what  better  right  can  the  people  have  to  a  country  than 
the  right  of  inheritance  and  immemorial  peaceable  posses 
sion  1  We  know  it  is  said  of  late  by  the  state  of  Georgia 
and  by  the  executive  of  the  United  States,  that  we  have  for- 
feited  this  right ;  but  we  think  it  is  said  gratuitously.  At 
what  time  have  we  made  the  forfeit  ?  What  great  crime 
have  we  committed,  whereby  we  must  for  ever  be  divested 
of  our  country  and  rights?  Was  it  when  we  were  hostile 
to  the  United  States,  and  took  part  with  the  king  of  Great 
Britain,  during  the  struggle  for  independence  ?  If  so,  why  was 
not  this  forfeiture  declared  in  the  first  treaty  which  followed 
that  war  ?  Why  was  not  such  an  article  as  the  following  in 
serted  in  the  treaty  :  '*  The  United  States  give  peace  to  the 
Cherokees,  but  for  the  part  they  took  in  the  last  war,  declare 
them  to  be  but  tenants  at  will,  to  be  removed  when  the  con 
venience  of  the  states,  within  whose  chartered  limits  they 
live,  shall  require  it  V  That  was  the  proper  time  to  assume 
such  a  possession.  But  it  was  not  thought  of,  nor  would  our 
forefathers  have  agreed  to  any  treaty,  whose  tendency  wafc 
to  deprive  them  of  their  rights  and  their  country." 

Such  is  the  language  of  the  Indians  :  their  assertions  are 
true,  their  forebodings  inevitable.  From  whichever  side  we 
consider  the  destinies  of  the  aborigines  of  North  America, 
their  calamities  appear  to  be  irremediable  :  if  they  continue 
barbarous,  they  are  forced  to  retire  :  if  they  attempt  to  civil 
ize  their  manners,  the  contact  of  a  more  civilized  community 
subjects  them  to  oppression  and  destitution.  They  perish  if 
they  continue  to  wander  from  waste  to  waste,  and  if  they 
attempt  to  settle,  they  still  must  perish  ;  the  assistance  of  Eu- 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  «1DJ) 

ropeans  is  necessary  to  instruct  them,  but  the  approach  of 
Europeans  corrupts  and  repels  them  into  savage  life ;  they 
refuse  to  change  their  habits  as  long  as  their  solitudes  are 
their  own,  and  it  is  too  late  to  change  them  when  they  are 
constrained  to  submit. 

The  Spaniards  pursued  the  Indians  with  blood-hounds,  like 
wild  beasts ;  they  sacked  the  New  World  with  no  more  tem 
per  or  compassion  than  a  city  taken  by  storm  :  but  destruc 
tion  must  cease,  and  phrensy  be  stayed  ;  the  remnant  of  the 
Indian  population,  which  had  escaped  the  massacre,  mixed 
with  its  conquerors  and  adopted  in  the  end  their  religion  and 
their  manners.*  The  conduct  of  the  Americans  of  the 
United  States  toward  the  aborigines  is  characterized,  on  the 
other  hand,  by  a  singular  attachment  to  the  formalities  of 
law.  Provided  that  the  Indians  retain  their  barbarous  con 
dition,  the  Americans  take  no  part  in  their  affairs  :  they  treat 
them  as  independent  nations,  and  do  not  possess  themselves 
of  their  hunting  grounds  without  a  treaty  of  purchase ;  and 
if  an  Indian  nation  happens  to  be  so  encroached  upon  as  to 
be  unable  to  subsist  upon  its  territory,  they  afford  it  brotherly 
assistance  in  transporting  it  to  a  grave  sufficiently  remote 
from  the  land  of  its  fathers. 

The  Spaniards  were  unable  to  exterminate  the  Indian  race 
by  those  unparalleled  atrocities  which  brand  them  with  in 
delible  shame,  nor  did  they  even  succeed  in  wholly  depriving 
it  of  its  rights  ;  but  the  Americans  of  the  United  States  have 
accomplished  this  twofold  purpose  with  singular  felicity ; 
tranquilly,  legally,  philanthropically,  without  shedding  blood, 
and  without  violating  a  single  great  principle  of  morality  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world. f  It  is  impossible  to  destroy  men  with 
more  respect  for  the  laws  of  humanity. 

*  The  honor  of  this  result  is,  however,  by  no  means  due  to  the 
Spaniards.  If  the  Indian  tribes  had  not  been  tillers  of  the  ground  at 
the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans,  they  would  unquestionably 
have  been  destroyed  in  South  as  well  as  in  North  America. 

f  See  among  other  documents,  the  report  made  by  Mr.  Bell  in  the 
name  of  the  committee  on  Indian  affairs,  Feb.  24th,  1830,  in  which  it 
is  most  logically  established  and  most  learnedly  proved,  that  "  the 
fundamental  principle,  that  the  Indians  had  no  right  by  virtue  of  their 
ancient  possession  either  of  will  or  sovereignty,  has  never  been  aban 
doned  either  expressly  or  by  implication." 

In  perusing  this  report,  which  is  evidently  drawn  up  by  an  able 
hand,  one  is  astonished  at  the  facility  with  which  the  author  gets  rjd 
of  all  arguments  founded  upon  reason  and  natural  right,  which  he 
designates  as  abstract  and  theoretical  principles.  The  more  I  con 
template  the  difference  between  civilized  and  uncivilized  man  with 
regard  to  the  principles  of  justice,  the  more  I  observe  that  the  former 
contests  the  justice  of  those  rights,  which  the  latter  simply  violates. 


360  PRESENT   AND    FUTURE    CONDITION    OF 


SITUATION  OF  THE  BLACK  POPULATION  IN  T.HE  UNITE*)  STATES, 
AND  DANGERS  WITH  WHICH  ITS  PRESENCE  THREATENS  THE 
WHITES. 

Why  it  is  more  difficult  to  abolish  Slavery,  and  to  efface  all  Vestiges 
of  it  among  the  Moderns,  than  it  was  among  the  Ancients. — In  the 
United  States  the  prejudices  of  the  Whites  against  the  Blacks  seem 
to  increase  in  Proportion  as  Slavery  is  abolished.— Situation  of  the 
Negroes  in  the  Northern  and  Southern  States. — Why  the  Americans 
abolish  Slavery. — Servitude,  which  debases  the  Slave,  impoverishes 
the  Master. — Contrast  between  the  left  and  the  right  Bank  of  the 
Ohio. — To  what  attributable. — The  black  Race,  as  well  as  Slavery, 
recedes  toward  the  South. — Explanation  of  this  fact. — Difficulties 
'attendant  upon  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  South. — Dangers  to 
come. — General  Anxiety. — Foundation  of  a  black  Colony  in  Africa. 
— Why  the  Americans  of  the  South  increase  the  Hardships  of 
Slavery,  while  they  are  distressed  at  its  Continuance. 

THE  Indians  will  perish  in  the  same  isolated  condition  in 
which  they  have  lived  ;  but  the  destiny  of  the  negroes  is  in 
some  measure  interwoven  with  that  of  the  Europeans.  These 
two  races  are  attached  to  each  other  without  intermingling  ; 
and  they  are  alike  unable  entirely  to  separate  or  to  combine. 
The  most  formidable  of  all  the  ills  which  threaten  the  future 
existence  of  the  United  States,  arises  from  the  presence  of  a 
black  population  upon  its  territory  ;  and  in  contemplating  the 
causes  of  the  present  embarrassments  or  of  the  future  dan 
gers  of  the  United  States,  the  observer  is  invariably  led  to 
consider  this  as  a  primary  fact. 

The  permanent  evils  to  which  mankind  is  subjected  are 
usually  produced  by  the  vehement  or  the  increasing  efforts 
of  men ;  but  there  is  one  calamity  which  penetrated  furtively 
into  the  world,  and  which  was  at  first  scarcely  distinguish 
able  amid  the  ordinary  abuses  of  power :  it  originated  with 
an  individual  whose  name  history  has  not  preserved  ;  it  was 
wafted  like  some  accursed  germ  upon  a  portion  of  the  soil, 
but  it  afterward  nurtured  itself,  grew  without  effort,  and 
spreads  naturally  with  the  society  to  which  it  belongs.  I 
need  scarcely  add  that  this  calamity  is  slavery.  Christianity 
suppressed  slavery,  but  the  Christians  of  the  sixteenth  cen 
tury  re-established  it — as  an  exception,  indeed,  to  their  social 
system,  and  restricted  to  one  of  the  races  of  mankind  ;  but 
the  wound  thus  inflicted  upon  humanity,  though  less  exten 
sive,  was  at  the  same  time  rendered  far  more  difficult  of  cure. 

It  is  important  to  make  an  accurate  distinction  between 
slavery  itself,  and  its  consequences.  The  immediate  evils 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  361 

which  are  produced  by  slavery  were  very  nearly  the  same  in 
antiquity  as  they  are  among  the  moderns ;  but  the  conse 
quences  of  these  evils  were  different.  The  slave,  among  the 
ancients,  belonged  to  the  same  race  as  his  master,  and  he  was 
often  the  superior  of  the  two  in  education*  and  instruction. 
Freedom  was  the  only  distinction  between  them  ;  and  when 
freedom  was  conferred,  they  were  easily  confounded  together. 
The  ancients,  then,  had  a  very  simple  means  of  avoiding 
slavery  and  its  evil  consequences,  which  was  that  of  enfran 
chisement  ;  and  they  succeeded  as  soon  as  they  adopted  this 
measure  generally.  Not  but,  in  ancient  states,  the  vestiges 
of  servitude  subsisted  for  some  time  after  servitude  was  abol- 
lihed.  There  is  a  natural  prejudice  which  prompts  men  to 
despise  whomsoever  has  been  their  inferior,  long  after  he  has 
become  their  equal  ;  and  the  real  inequality  which  is  pro 
duced  by  fortune  or  by  law,  is  always  succeeded  by  an  ima 
ginary  inequality  which  is  implanted  in  the  manners  of  the 
people.  Nevertheless,  this  secondary  consequence  of  slavery 
was  limited  to  a  certain  term  among  the  ancients  ;  for  the 
freedman  bore  so  entire  a  resemblance  to  those  born  free,  that 
it  soon  became  impossible  to  distinguish  him  from  among 
them. 

The  greatest  difficulty  in  antiquity  was  that  of  altering  the 
law  ;  among  the  moderns  it  is  of  altering  the  manners  ;  and, 
as  far  as  we  are  concerned,  tho  real  obstacles  begin  where 
those  of  the  ancients  left  off.  This  arises  from  the  circum 
stance  that,  among  the  moderns,  the  abstract  and  transient 
fact  of  slavery  is  fatally  united  to  the  physical  and  permanent 
fact  of  color.  The  tradition  of  slavery  dishonors  the  race, 
and  the  peculiarity  of  the  race  perpetuates  the  tradition  of 
slavery.  No  African  has  ever  voluntarily  emigrated  to  the 
shores  of  the  New  World  ;  whence  it  must  be  inferred,  that 
all  the  blacks  who  are  now  to  be  found  in  that  hemisphere 
are  either  slaves  or  freedmen.  Thus  the  negro  transmits 
the  eternal  mark  of  his  ignominy  to  all  his  descendants  ;  and 
although  the  law  may  abolish  slavery,  God  alone  can  obliter 
ate  the  traces  of  its  existence. 

The  modern  slave  differs  from  his  master  not  only  in  his 
condition,  but  in  his  origin.  You  may  set  the  negro  free,  but 
you  cannot  make  him  otherwise  than  an  alien  to  the  European. 
Nor  is  this  all ;  we  scarcely  acknowledge  the  common  fea- 

*  It  is  well  known  that  several  of  the  most  distinguished  authors  of 
antiquity,  and  among  them  JEsop  and  Terence,  were  or  had  been  slaves. 
Slaves  were  not  always  taken  from  barbarous  nations,  and  the  chances 
of  war  reduced  highly  civilized  men  to  servitude. 


362  PRESENT   AND    FUTURE    CONDITION    OF 

tures  of  mankind  in  this  child  of  debasement  whom  slavery 
has  brought  among  us.  His  physiognomy  is  to  our  eyes  hide 
ous,  his  understanding  weak,  his  tastes  low ;  and  we  are  al 
most  inclined  to  look  upon  him  as  a  being  intermediate  be 
tween  man  and  the  brutes.*  The  moderns,  then,  after  they 
have  abolished  slavery,  have  three  prejudices  to  contend 
against,  which  are  less  easy  to  attack,  and  far  less  easy  to 
conquer,  than  the  .mere  fact  of  servitude :  the  prejudice  of 
the  master,  the  prejudice  of  the  race,  and  the  prejudice  of 
color. 

It  is  difficult  for  us,  who  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  be 
born  among  men  like  ourselves  by  nature,  and  equal  to  our 
selves  by  law,  to  conceive  the  irreconcilable  differences  which 
separate  the  negro  from  the  European  in  America.  But  we 
may  derive  some  faint  notion  of  them  from  analogy.  France 
was  formerly  a  country  in  which  numerous  distinctions  of 
rank  existed,  that  had  been  created  by  the  legislation.  No 
thing  can  be  more  fictitious  than  a  purely  legal  inferiority ; 
nothing  more  contrary  to  the  instinct  of  mankind  than  these 
permanent  divisions  which  had  been  established  between 
beings  evidently  similar.  Nevertheless  these  divisions  sub 
sisted  for  ages  •  they  still  subsist  in  many  places ;  and  on  all 
sides  they  have  left  imaginary  vestiges,  which  time  alone  can 
efface.  If  it  be  so  difficult  to  root  out  an  inequality  which 
solely  originates  in  the  law,  how  are  those  distinctions  to  be 
destroyed  which  seem  to  be  founded  upon  the  immutable  laws  of 
nature  herself  ?  When  I  remember  the  extreme  difficulty 
with  which  aristocratic  bodies,  of  whatever  nature  they  may 
be,  are  commingled  with  the  mass  of  the  people  ;  and  the  ex 
ceeding  care  which  they  take  to  preserve  the  ideal  boundaries 
of  their  caste  inviolate,  I  despair  of  seeing  an  aristocracy  dis 
appear  which  is  founded  upon  visible  and  indelible  signs. 
Those  who  hope  that  the  Europeans  will  ever  mix  with  the 
negroes,  appear  to  me  to  delude  themselves  ;  and  I  am  not 
led  to  any  such  conclusion  by  my  own  reason,  or  by  the  evi 
dence  of  facts. 

Hitherto,  wherever  the  whites  nave  been  the  most  power 
ful,  they  have  maintained  the  blacks  in  a  subordinate  or  a 
servile  position  ;  wnerever  the  negroes  have  been  strongest, 
they  have  destroyed  the  whites  ;  such  has  been  the  only 

*  To  induce  the  whites  to  abandon  the  opinion  they  have  conceived 
of  the  moral  and  intellectual  inferiority  of  their  former  slaves,  the  ne 
groes  must  change ;  but  as  long  as  this  opinion  subsists,  to  change  is 
impossible. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  363 

course  of  events  which  has  ever  taken  place  between  the 
two  races. 

I  see  that  in  a  certain  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  at  the  present  day,  the  legal  barrier  which  separated 
the  two  races  is  tending  to  fall  away,  but  not  that  which  ex 
ists  in  the  manners  of  the  country ;  slavery  recedes,  but  the 
prejudice  to  which  it  has  given  birth  remains  stationary. 
Whosoever  has  inhabited  the  United  States,  must  have  per 
ceived,  that  in  those  parts  of  the  Union  in  which  the  negroes 
are  no  longer  slaves,  they  have  in  nowise  drawn  nearer  to  the 
whites.  On  the  contrary,  the  prejudice  of  the  race  appears 
to  be  stronger  in  the  states  which  have  abolished  slavery, 
*han  in  those  where  it  still  exists  ;  and  nowhere  is  it  so  intole 
rant  as  in  those  states  where  servitude  has  never  been 
known. 

It  is  true,  that  in  the  north  of  the  Union,  marriages  may  be 
legally  contracted  between  negroes  and  whites,  but  public 
opinion  would  stigmatize  a  man  who  should  connect  himself 
with  a  negress  as  infamous,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  meet 
with  a  single  instance  of  such  a  union.  The  electoral  fran 
chise  has  been  conferred  upon  the  negroes  in  almost  all  the 
States  in  which  slavery  has  been  abolished  ;  but  if  they  come 
forward  to  vote,  their  lives  are  in  danger.  If  oppressed,  they 
may  bring  an  action  at  law,  but  they  will  find  none  but  whites 
among  their  judges  ;  and  although  they  may  legally  serve  as 
jurors,  prejudice  repulses  them  from  that  office.  The  same 
schools  do  not  receive  the  child  of  the  black  and  of  the  Euro 
pean.  In  the  theatres,  gold  cannot  procure  a  seat  for  the  ser 
vile  race  beside  their  former  masters  ;  in  the  hospitals  they 
lie  apart ;  and  although  they  are  allowed  to  invoke  the  samf 
Divinity  as  the  whites,  it  must  be  at  a  different  altar,  and  ii 
their  own  churches,  with  their  own  clergy.  The  gates  of 
heaven  are  not  closed  against  these  unhappy  beings  ;  but  their 
inferiority  is  continued  to  the  very  confines  of  the  other  world. 
When  the  negro  is  defunct,  his  bones  are  cast  aside,  and  the 
distinction  of  condition  prevails  even  in  the  equality  of  death. 
The  negro  is  free,  but  he  can  share  neither  the  rights,  nor  the 
pleasure,  nor  the  labor,  nor  the  afflictions,  nor  the  tomb  of 
him  whose  equal  he  has  been  declared  to  be  ;  and  he  cannot 
meet  him  upon  fair  terms  in  life  or  in  death. 

In  the  south,  where  slavery  still  exists,  the  negroes  are  less 
carefully  kept  apart ;  they  sometimes  share  the  labor  and 
the  recreations  of  the  whites  ;  the  whites  consent  to  intermix 
with  them  to  a  certain  extent,  and  although  the  legislation 
treats  them  more  harshly,  the  habits  of  the  people  are  more 


ft64  PRESENT    AND    FUTURE    CONDITION    OF 

tolerant  'and  compassionate.  In  the  south  the  master  is  not 
afraid  to  raise  his  slave  to  his  own  standing,  because  he 
knows  that  he  can  in  a  moment  reduce  him  to  the  dust  at 
pleasure.  In  the  north,  the  white  no  longer  distinctly  per 
ceives  the  barrier  which  separates  him  from  the  degraded 
race,  and  he  shuns  the  negro  with  the  more  pertinacity, 
because  he  fears  lest  they  should  be  some  day  confounded 
together. 

Among  the  Americans  of  the  south,  nature  sometimes  re 
asserts  her  rights,  and  restores  a  transient  equality  between 
the  blacks  and  the  whites ;  but  in  the  north,  pride  restrains 
the  most  imperious  of  human  passions.  The  American  of 
the  northern  states  would  perhaps  allow  the  negress  to  share 
his  licentious  pleasures,  if  the  laws  of  his  country  did  not 
declare  that  she  may  aspire  to  be  the  legitimate  partner  of  his 
bed ;  but  he  recoils  with  horror  from  her  who  might  become 
his  wife. 

Thus  it  is,  in  the  United  States,  that  the  prejudice  which 
repels  the  negroes  seems  to  increase  in  proportion  as  they  are 
emancipated,  and  inequality  is  sanctioned  by  the  manners 
while  it  is  effaced  from  the  laws  of  the  country.  But  if  the 
relative  position  of  the  two  races  which  inhabit  the  United 
States,  is  such  as  I  have  described,  it  may  be  asked  why  the 
Americans  have  abolished  slavery  in  the  north  of  the  Union, 
why  they  maintain  it  in  the  south,  and  why  they  aggravate  its 
hardships  there  ?  The  answer  is  easily  given.  It  is  not  for 
the  good  of  the  negroes,  but  for  that  of  the  whites,  that  mea 
sures  are  taken  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  United  States. 

The  first  negroes  were  imported  into  Virginia  about  the 
year  1621.*  In  America,  therefore,  as  well  as  in  the  rest  of  the 
globe,  slavery  originated  in  the  south.  Thence  it  spread 
from  one  settlement  to  another  ;  but  the  number  of  slaves 
diminished  toward  the  northern  states,  and  the  negro  population 
was  always  very  limited  in  New  England. f 

*  See  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia.  See  also  in  Jefferson's  Memoirs 
some  curious  details  concerning  the  introduction  of  negroes  into 
Virginia,  and  the  first  act  which  prohibited  the  importation  of  them 
in  1778. 

t  The  number  of  slaves  was, less  considerable  in  the  north,  but  the 
advantages  resulting  from  slavery  were  not  more  contested  there  than 
in  the  south.  In  1740,  the  legislature  of  the  state  of  New  York 
declared  that  the  direct  importation  of  slaves  ought  to  be  encouraged 
as  much  as  possible,  and  smuggling  severely  punished,  in  order  not  to 
discourage  the  fair  trader.  (Kent's  Commentaries,  vol.  ii.,  p.  206.) 
Curious  researches,  by  Belknap,  upon  slavery  in  New  England,  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Historical  Collections  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  iv.,  p.  193. 
It  appears  that  negroes  were  introduced  there  in  1630,  but  that  the 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  365 

A  century  had  scarcely  elapsed  since  the  foundation  of  the 
colonies,  when  the  attention  of  the  planters  was  struck  by  the 
extraordinary  fact,  that  the  provinces  which  were  compa  ratively 
destitute  of  slaves,  increased  in  population,  in  wealth,  and  in 
prosperity,  more  rapidly  than  those  which  contained  the 
greatest  number  of  negroes.  In  the  former,  however,  the 
inhabitants  were  obliged  to  cultivate  the  soil  themselves,  or  by 
hired  laborers ;  in  the  latter,  they  were  furnished  with  hands 
for  which  they  paid  no  wages  ;  yet,  although  labor  and 
expense  were  on  the  one  side,  and  ease  with  economy  on  the 
other,  the  former  were  in  possession  of  the  most  advantageous 
system.  This  consequence  seemed  to  be  the  more  difficult 
to  explain,  since  the  settlers,  who  all  belonged  to  the  same 
European  race,  had  the  same  habits,  the  same  civilisation, 
the  same  laws,  and  their  shades  of  difference  were  extremely 
slight. 

Time,  however,  continued  to  advance ;  and  the  Anglo- 
Americans,  spreading  beyond  the  coasts  of  the  Atlantic  ocean, 
penetrated  farther  and  farther  into  the  solitudes  of  the  west ; 
they  met  with  a  new  soil  and  an  unwonted  climate  ;  the 
obstacles  which  opposed  them  were  of  the  most  various 
character;  their  races  intermingled,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
south  went  up  toward  the  north,  those  of  the  north  descended 
to  the  south ;  but  in  the  midst  of  all  these  causes,  the  same 
result  recurred  at  every  step  ;  and  in  general,  the  colonies  in 
which  there  were  no  slaves  became  more  populous  and  more 
rich  than  those  in  which  slavery  nourished.  The  more  pro-\ 
gress  was  made,  the  more  was  it  shown  that  slavery,  which  \ 
is  so  cruel  to  the  slave,  is  prejudicial  to  the  master. 

But  this  truth  was  most  satisfactorily  demonstrated  when  • 
civilisation  reached  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  The  stream  ; 
which  the  Indians  had  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Ohio,  or 
Beautiful  river,  waters  one  of  the  most  magnificent  valleys 
which  have  ever  been  made  the  abode  of  man.  Undulating 
lands  extend  upon  both  shores  of  the  Ohio,  whose  soil  affords 
inexhaustible  treasures  to  the  laborer ;  on  either  bank  the  air 
is  wholesome  and  the  climate  mild  ;  and  each  of  them  forms 
the  extreme  frontier  of  a  vast  state  :  that  which  follows  the 
numerous  windings  of  the  Ohio  upon  the  left  is  called 
Kentucky ;  that  upon  the  right  bears  the  name  of  the  river. 
These  two  states  only  differ  in  a  single  respect ;  Kentucky 

legislation  and  manners  of  the  people  were  opposed  to  slavery  from  the 
first ;  see  also,  in  the  same  work,  the  manner  in  which  public  opinion, 
and  afterward  the  laws,  finally  put  an  end  to  slavery. 


366         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

has  admitted  slavery,  but  the  state  of  Ohio  has  prohibited  the 
existence  of  slaves  within  its  borders.* 

Thus  the  traveller  who  floats  down  the  current  of  the  Ohio, 
to  the  spot  where  that  river  falls  into  the  Mississippi,  may  be 
said  to  sail  between  liberty  and  servitude  ;  and  a  transient 
inspection  of  the  surrounding  objects  will  convince  him  which 
of  the  two  is  most  favorable  to  mankind. 

Upon  the  left  bank  of  the  stream  the  population  is  rare  ; 
from  time  to  time  one  descries  a  troop  of  slaves  loitering  in  the 
half-desert  fields ;  the  primeval  forest  recurs  at  every  turn  ; 
society  seems  to  be  asleep,  man  to  be  idle,  and  nature  alone 
offers  a  scene  of  activity  and  of  life. 

From  the  right  bank,  on  the  contrary,  a  confused  hum  is 
heard,  which  proclaims  the  presence  of  industry  ;  the  fields 
are  covered  with  abundant  harvests ;  the  elegance  of  the 
dwellings  announces  the  taste  and  activity  of  the  laborer ;  and 
man  appears  to  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  wealth  and  con 
tentment  which  are  the  reward  of  labor.f 

The  state  of  Kentucky  was  founded  in  1775,  the  state  of 
Ohio  only  twelve  years  later;  but  twelve  years  are  more 
in  America  than  half  a  century  in  Europe,  and,  at  the  present 
day,  the  population  of  Ohio  exceeds  that  of  Kentucky  by  250,- 
000  souls. :£  These  opposite  consequences  of  slavery  and 
freedom  may  readily  be  understood ;  and  they  suffice  to 
explain  many  of  the  differences  which  we  remark  between 
the  civilisation  of  antiquity  and  that  of  our  own  time. 

Upon  the  left  bank  of  the  Ohio  labor  is  confounded  with  the 

idea  of  slavery,  upon  the  right  bank  it  is  identified  with  that 

of    prosperity    and    improvement ;     on  the   one    side    it   is 

\  degraded,  on  the  other  it  is  honored  ;  on  the  former  territory 

\  no.  white  laborers  can  be  found,  for  they  would  be  afraid  of 

\assimilating  themselves  to  the  negroes  ;  on  the  latter  no  one 

as  idle,  for  the  white  population  extends  its  activity  and  its 

intelligence  to  every  kind  of  employment.     Thus  the  men 


*  Not  only  is  slavery  prohibited  in  Ohio,  but  no  free  negroes  are 
allowed  to  enter  the  territory  of  that  state,  or  to  hold  property  in  it 
See  the  statutes  of  Ohio. 

f  The  activity  of  Ohio  is  not  confined  to  individuals,  but  the  under 
takings  of  the  state  are  surprisingly  great :  a  canal  has  been  established 
between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio,  by  means  of  which  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  communicates  with  the  river  of  the  north,  and  the  Euro 
pean  commodities  with  arrive  at  New  York,  may  be  forwarded  by  water 
to  New  Orleans  across  five  hundred  leagues  of  continent. 

J  The  exact  numbers  given  by  the  census  of  1830  were :  Kentucky, 
688,844;  Ohio,  937,679. 

[In  1840  the  census  gave,  Kentucky  779,828  ;  Ohio  1,519,467.] 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  367 

whose  task  it  is  to  cultivate  the  rich  soil  of  Kentucky  are 
ignorant  and  lukewarm  ;  while  those  who  are  active  and 
enlightened  either  do  nothing,  or  pass  over  into  the  state  of 
Ohio,  where  they  may  work  without  dishonor. 

It  is  true  that  in  Kentucky  the  planters  are  not  obliged  to 
pay  wages  to  the  slaves  whom  they  employ  ;  but  they  derive 
small  profits  from  their  labor,  while  the  wages  paid  to  free 
workmen  would  be  returned  with  interest  in  the  value  of  their 
services.  The  free  workman  is  paid,  but  he  does  his  work 
quicker  than  the  slave  ;  and  rapidity  of  execution  is  one  of 
the  great  elements  of  economy.  The  white  sells  his  services, 
but  they  are  only  purchased  at  the  times  at  which  they  nmy 
be  useful  ;  the  black  can  claim  no  remuneration  for  his  toil, 
but  the  expense  of  his  maintenance  is  perpetual ;  he  must 
be  supported  in  his  old  age  as  well  as  in  the  prime  of  man 
hood,  in  his  profitless  infancy  as  well  as  in  the  productive 
years  of  youth.  Payment  must  equally  be  made  in  order  to 
obtain  the  services  of  either  class  of  men  ;  the  free  workman 
receives  his  wages  in  money  ;  the  slave  in  education,  in 
food,  in  care,  and  in  clothing.  The  money  which  a  master 
spends  in  the  maintenance  of  his  slaves,  goes  gradually  and 
in  detail,  so  that  it  is  scarcely  perceived ;  the  salary  of  Uio 
free  workman  is  paid  in  a  round  sum,  which  appears  only  to 
enrich  the  individual  who  receives  it ;  but  in  the  end  the 
slave  has  cost  more  than  the  free  servant,  and  his  labor  is  less 
productive.*  4 

>The  influence  of  slavery  extends  still  farther  ;  it  affects 
the  character  of  the  master,  and  imparts  a  peculiar  tendency 
to  his  ideas  and  his  tastes.  Upon  both  banks  of  the  Ohio,  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants  is  enterprising  and  energetic  ; 
but  this  vigor  is  very  differently  exercised  in  the  two  states. 

*  Independently  of  these  causes  which,  wherever  free  workmen 
abound,  render  their  labor  more  productive  and  more  economical  than 
that  of  slaves,  another  cause  may  be  pointed  out  which  is  peculiar  to 
the  United  States  :  the  sugar-cane  has  hitherto  been  cultivated  with 
success  only  upon  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  near  the  mouth  of  that 
river  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  In  Louisiana  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar 
cane  is  exceedingly  lucrative  ;  nowhere  does  a  laborer  earn  so  much  by 
his  work  :  and,  as  there  is  always  a  certain  relation  between  the  cost 
of  production  and  the  value  of  the  produce,  the  price  of  slaves  is  very 
high  in  Louisiana.  But  Louisiana  is  one  of  the  confederate  states,  and 
slaves  may  be  carried  thither  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  ;  the  price 
given  for  slaves  in  New  Orleans  consequently  raises  the  value  of  slaves 
in  all  the  other  markets.  The  consequence  of  this  is,  that  in  the 
countries  where  the  land  is  less  productive,  the  cost  of  slave  labor  is 
still  very  considerable,  which  gives  an  additional  advantage  to  the  com 
petition  of  free  labor. 


3fi8  PRESENT    AND    FUTURE    CONDITION    OF 

The  white  inhabitant  of  Ohio,  who  is  obliged  to  subsist  by  his 

own  exertions,  regards  temporal  prosperity  as  the  principal 

I  aim  of  his  existence  ;  and  as  the  country  which  he  occupies 

j  presents  inexhaustible  resources  to  his  industry,  and  ever- 

i  varying  lures  to  his  activity,  his  acquisitive  ardor  surpasses 

!  the  ordinary  limits  of  human  cupidity  :  he  is  tormented  by 

1  the  desire  of  wealth,  and  he  boldly  enters  upon  every  path 

I  which  fortune  opens  to  him  ;  he  becomes  a  sailor,   pioneer, 

tan  artisan,  or  a  laborer,  with  the  same  indifference,  and  he 

supports,  with  equal  constancy,  the  fatigues  and  the  dangers 

Incidental  to  these  various  professions  ;  the   resources  of  his 

^intelligence  are  astonishing,  and  his  avidity  in  the  pursuit  of 

gain  amounts  to  a  species  of  heroism. 

But  the  Kentuckian  scorns  not  only  labor,  but  all  the  un 
dertakings  which  labor  promotes ;  as  he  lives  in  an  idle 
independence,  his  tastes  are  those  of  an  idle  man  ;  money 
loses  a  portion  of  its  value  in  his  eyes ;  he  covets  wealth 
much  less  than  pleasure  and  excitement;  and  the  energy 
which  his  neighbor  devotes  to  gain,  turns  with  him  to  a  passion 
ate  love  of  field  sports  and  military  exercises  ;  he  delights  in 
violent  bodily  exertion,  he  is  familiar  with  the  use  of  arms, 
and  is  accustomed  from  a  very  early  age  to  expose  his  life 
in  single  combat.  Thus  slavery  not  only  prevents  the  whites 
\from  becoming  opulent,  but  even  from  desiring  to  become  so. 
'  As  tne  same  causes  have  been  continually  producing  op 
posite  effects  for  the  last  two  centuries  in  the  British  colonies 
of  North  America,  they  have  established  a  very  striking  dif 
ference  between  the  commercial  capacity  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  south  and  that  of  the  north.  At  the  present  day,  it  is 
only  the  northern  states  which  are  in  possession  of  shipping, 
manufactures,  railroads,  and  canals.  This  difference  is  per 
ceptible  not  only  in  comparing  the  north  with  the  south,  but 
in  comparing  the  several  southern  states.  Almost  all  the 
individuals  who  carry  on  commercial  operations,  or  who  en 
deavor  to  turn  slave-labor  to  account  in  the  most  southern 
districts  of  the  Union,  have  emigrated  from  the  north.  The 
natives  of  the  northern  states  are  constantly  spreading  over 
that  portion  of  the  American  territory,  where  they  have  less 
to  fear  from  competition  ;  they  discover  resources  there, 
which  escaped  the  notice  of  the  inhabitants  ;  and,  as  they 
comply  with  a  system  which  they  do  not  approve,  they  suc 
ceed  in  turning  it  to  better  advantage  than  those  who  first 
founded,  and  who  still  maintain  it. 

Were  I  inclined  to  continue  this  parallel,  I  could  easily 
prove  that  almost  all  the  differences,  which  may  be  remarked 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  369 

between  the  characters  of  the  Americans  in  the  southern  and 
in  the  northern  states,  have  originated  in  slavery  ;  but  this 
would  divert  me  from  my  subject,  and  my  present  intention 
is  not  to  point  out  all  the  consequences  of  servitude,  but 
those  effects  which  it  has  produced  upon  the  prosperity  of 
the  countries  which  have  admitted  it. 

The  influence  of  slavery  upon  the  production  of  wealth 
must  have  been  very  imperfectly  known  in  antiquity,  as  sla 
very  then  obtained  throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  the 
nations  which  were  unacquainted  with  it  were  barbarous. 
And  indeed  Christianity  only  abolished  slavery  by  advocating 
the  claims  of  the  slave  ;  at  the  present  time  it  may  be  at 
tacked  in  the  name  of  the  master ;  and,  upon  this  point,  inte 
rest  is  reconciled  with  morality. 

As  these  truths  became  apparent  in  the  United  States,  sla 
very  receded  before  the  progress  of  experience.  Servitude 
had  begun  in  the  south,  and  had  tbence  spread  toward  the 
north  j  but  it  now  retires  again.  Freedom,  which  started 
from  the  north,  now  descends  uninterruptedly  toward  the 
south.  Among  the  great  states,  Pennsylvania  now  consti 
tutes  the  extieme  limit  of  slavery  to  the  north;  but  even 
within  those  limits  the  slave-system  is  shaken  ;  Maryland, 
which  is  immediately  below  Pennsylvania,  is  preparing  for 
its  abolition  ;  and  Virginia,  which  comes  next  to  Maryland, 
is  already  discussing  its  utility  and  its  dangers.* 

No  great  change  takes  place  in  human  institutions,  with 
out  involving  among  its  causes  the  law  of  inheritance.  When 
the  law  of  primogeniture  obtained  in  the  south,  each  family 
was  represented  by  a  wealthy  individual,  who  was  neither 
compelled  nor  induced  to  labor  ;  and  he  was  surrounded,  as 
by  parasitic  plants,  by  the  other  members  of  his  family,  who 
were  then  excluded  by  law  from  sharing  the  common  inhe- 
"itance,  and  who  led  the  same  kind  of  life  as  himself.  The 
very  same  thing  then  occurred  in  all  the  families  of  the 
south  that  still  happens  in  the  wealthy  families  of  some  coun 
tries  in  Europe,  namely,  that  the  younger  sons  remain  in  the 

*  A  peculiar  reason  contributes  to  detach  the  two  last-mentioned 
states  from  the  cause  of  slavery.  The  former  wealth  of  this  part  of  the 
Union  was  principally  derived  from  the  cultivation  of  tobacco.  This 
cultivation  is  specially  carried  on  by  slaves;  but  within  the  last  few 
years  the  market-price  of  tobacco  has  diminished,  while  the  value  of 
the  slaves  remains  the  same.  Thus  the  ratio  between  the  cost  of  pro 
duction  and  the  value  of  the  produce  is  changed.  The  natives  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  are  therefore  more  disposed  than  they  were 
thirty  years  ago,  to  give  up  slave  labor  in  the  cultivation  of  tobacco, 
or  to  give  up  slavery  and  tobacco  at  the  same  time. 
24 


370         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

same  state  of  idleness  as  their  elder  brother,  without  being 
as  rich  as  he  is.  This  identical  result  seems  to  be  produced 
in  Europe  and  in  America  by  wholly  analogous  causes.  In 
the  south  of  the  United  States,  the  whole  race  of  whites 
formed  an  aristocratic  body,  which  was  headed  by  a  certain 
number  of  privileged  individuals,  whose  wealth  was  perma 
nent,  and  whose  leisure  was  hereditary.  These  leaders  of 
the  American  nobility  kept  alive  the  traditional  prejudices  of 
the  white  race  in  the  body  of  which  they  were  the  representa 
tives,  and  maintained  the  honor  of  inactive  life.  This  aris 
tocracy  contained  many  who  were  poor,  but  none  who  would 
work  ;  its  members  preferred  want  to  labor ;  consequently 
no  competition  was  set  on  foot  against  negro  laborers  and 
slaves,  and  whatever  opinion  might  be  entertained  as  to  the 
utility  of  their  efforts,  it  was  indispensable  to  employ  them, 
since  there  was  no  one  else  to  work. 

No  sooner  was  the  law  of  primogeniture  abolished  than  for 
tunes  began  to  diminish,  and  all  the  families  of  the  country 
were  simultaneously  reduced  to  a  state  in  which  labor  be 
came  necessary  to  procure  the  means  of  subsistence  :  seve 
ral  of  them  have  since  entirely  disappeared  ;  and  all  of  them 
learned  to  look  forward  to  the  time  at  which  it  would  be 
necessary  for  every  one  to  provide  for  his  own  wants. 
Wealthy  individuals  are  still  to  be  met  with,  but  they  no 
longer  constitute  a  compact  and  hereditary  body,  nor  have 
they  b^en  able  to  adopt  a  line  of  conduct  in  which  they  couLl 
persevere,  and  which  they  could  infuse  into  all  ranks  of  soci 
ety.  The  prejudice  which  stigmatized  labor  was  in  the  first 
place  abandoned  by  common  consent ;  the  number  of  needy 
men  was  increased,  and  the  needy  were  allowed  to  gain  a 
laborious  subsistence  without  blushing  for  their  exertions. 
Thus  one  of  the  most  immediate  consequences  of  the  partible 
quality  of  estates  has  been  to  create  a  class  of  free  laborers. 
As  soon  as  a  competition  was  set  on  foot  between  the  free 
laborer  and  the  slave,  the  inferiority  of  the  latter  became 
manifest,  and  slavery  was  attacked  in  its  fundamental  prin 
ciples,  which  is,  the  interest  of  the  master. 

As  slavery  recedes,  the  black  population  follows  its  retro 
grade  course,  and  returns  with  it  to  those  tropical  regions 
from  which  it  originally  came.  However  singular  this  fact 
may  at  first  appear  to  be,  it  may  readily  be  explained.  Al 
though  the  Americans  abolish  the  principle  of  slavery,  they 
do  not  set  their  slaves  free.  To  illustrate  this  remark  I  will 
quote  the  example  of  the  state  of  New  York.  In  1788,  the 
state  of  New  York  prohibited  the  sale  of  slaves  within  its 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  T, 

limits;  which  was  an  indirect  method  of  prohibiting  the  im. 
portation  of  blacks.  Thenceforward  the  number  of  negroes 
could  only  increase  according  to  the  ratio  of  the  natural  in 
crease  of  population.  But  eight  years  later  a  more  decisive 
measure  was  taken,  and  it  was  enacted  that  all  children  born 
of  slave  parents  after  the  4th  of  July,  1799,  should  be  free. 
No  increase  could  then  take  place,  and  although  slaves  still 
existed,  slavery  might  be  said  to  be  abolished. 

From  the  time  at  which  a  northern  state  prohibited  the 
importation  of  slaves,  no  slaves  were  brought  from  the  south 
to  be  sold  in  its  markets.  On  the  other  hand,  as  the  sale  of 
slaves  was  forbidden  in  that  state,  an  owner  was  no  longer 
able  to  get  rid  of  his  slaves  (who  thus  became  a  burdensome 
possession)  otherwise  than  by  transporting  him  to  the  south. 
But  when  a  northern  state  declared  that  the  son  of  the  slave 
should  be  born  free,  the  slave  lost  a  large  portion  of  his  mar 
ket  value,  since  his  posterity  was  no  longer  included  in  the 
bargain,  and  the  owner  had  then  a  strong  interest  in  trans 
porting  him  to  the  south.  Thus  the  same  law  prevents  the 
slaves  of  the  south  from  coming  to  the  northern  states,  arid 
drives  those  of  the  north  to  the  south. 

The  want  of  free  hands  is  felt  in  a  state  in  proportion  as 
the  number  of  slaves  decreases.  But  in  proportion  as  labor 
is  performed  by  free  hands,  slave-labor  becomes  less  produc 
tive  ;  and  the  slave  is  then  a  useless  or  an  onerous  posses 
sion,  whojn  it  is  important  to  export  to  those  southern  states 
where  the  same  competition  is  not  to  be  feared.  Thus  the 
abolition  of  slavery  does  not  set  the  slave  free,  but  it  merely 
transfers  him  from  one  master  to  another,  and  from  the  north 
to  the  south. 

The  emancipated  negroes,  and  those  born  after  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery,  do  not,  indeed,  migrate  from  the  north  to  the 
south ;  but  their  situation  with  regard  to  the  Europeans  is 
not  unlike  that  of  the  aborigines  of  America  ;  they  remain 
half  civilized,  and  deprived  of  their  rights  in  the  midst  of  a 
population  which  is  far  superior  to  them  in  wealth  and  in 
knowledge  ;  where  they  are  exposed  to  the  tyranny  of  the 
laws,*  and  the  intolerance  of  the  people.  On  some  accounts 
they  are  still  more  to  be  pitied  than  the  Indians,  since  they 
are  haunted  by  the  reminiscence  of  slavery,  and  they  cannot 

*  The  states  in  which  slavery  is  abolished  usually  do  what  they  can 
to  render  their  territory  disagreeable  to  the  negroes  as  a  place  ol  resi 
dence  ;  and  as  a  kind  of  emulation  exists  between  the  different  states 
"to  this  respect,  the  unhappy  blacks  can  only  choose  the  least  of  the 
vils  which  beset  them. 


372         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

claim  possession  of  a  single  portion  of  the  soil :  many  of  them 
perish  miserably,*  and  the  rest  congregate  in  the  grteat  towns, 
where  they  perform  the  meanest  offices,  and  lead  a  wretched 
and  precarious  existence. 

But  even  if  the  number  of  negroes  continued  to  increase 
as  rapidly  as  when  they  were  still  in  a  state  of  slavery,  as 
the  number  of  whites  augments  with  twofold  rapidity  since 
Jie  abolition  of  slavery,  the  blacks  would  soon  be,  as  it  were, 
lost  in  the  midst  of  a  strange  population. 

A  district  which  is  cultivated  by  slaves  is  in  general  mor* 
scantily  peopled  than  a  district  cultivated  by  free  labor : 
moreover,  America  is  still  a  new  country,  and  a  state  is 
therefore  not  half  peopled  at  the  time  when  it  abolished  slave 
ry.  No  sooner  is  an  end  put  to  slavery,  than  the  want  of 
free  labor  is  felt,  and  a  crowd  of  enterprising  adventurers 
immediately  arrive  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  who  hasten 
to  profit  by  the  fresh  resources  which  are  then  opened  to 
industry.  The  soil  is  soon  divided  among  them,  and  a 
family  of  white  settlers  takes  possession  of  each  tract  of  coun 
try.  Besides  which,  European  emigration  is  exclusively 
directed  to  the  free  states  ;  for  what  would  be  the  fate  of  a 
poor  emigrant  who  crosses  the  Atlantic  in  search  of  ease  and 
happiness,  if  he  were  to  land  in  a  country  where  labor  is 
stigmatized  as  degrading  ? 

Thus  the  white  population  grows  by  its  natural  increase, 
and  at  the  same  time  by  the  immense  influx  of  emigrants  ; 
while  the  black  population  receives  no  emigrants,  and  is  upon 
its  decline.  The  proportion  which  existed  between  the  twu 
races  is  soon  inverted.  The  negroes  constitute  a  scanty  rem 
nant,  a  poor  tribe  of  vagrants,  which  is  lost  in  the  midst  of  an 
immense  people  in  full  possession  of  the  land ;  and  the  pre 
sence  of  the  blacks  is  only  marked  by  the  injustice  and  the 
hardships  of  which  they  are  the  unhappy  victims. 

In  several  of  the  western  states  the  negro  race  never  made 
its  appearance  ;  and  in  all  the  northern  states  it  is  rapidly  de 
clining.  Thus  the  great  question  of  its  future  condition  is 
confined  within  a  narrow  circle,  where  it  becomes  less  formi 
dable,  though  not  more  easy  of  solution. 

*  There  is  a  very  great  difference  between  the  mortality  of  the  blacks 
and  of  the  whites  in  the  states  in  which  slavery  is  abolished  ;  from 
1820  to  1831  only  one  out  of  forty-two  individuals  of  the  white  popu 
lation  died  in  Philadelphia;  but  one  negro  out  of  twenty-one  indi 
viduals  of  the  black  population  died  in  the  same  space  of  time.  The 
mortality  is  by  no  means  so  great  among  the  negroes  who  are  still 
slaves.  (See  Emmerson's  Medical  Statistics,  p.  28.) 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  3^ 

The  more  we  descend  toward  the  south,  the  more  difficult 
does  it  become  to  abolish  slavery  with  advantage  ;  and  this 
arises  from  several  physical  causes,  which  it  is  important  to 
point  out. 

The  first  of  these  causes  is  the  climate :  it  is  well  known 
that  in  proportion  as  Europeans  approach  the  tropics,  they 
suffer  more  from  labor.  Many  of  the  Americans  even  assert, 
that  within  a  certain  latitude  the  exertions  which  a  negro  car 
make  without  danger  are  fatal  to  them  ;*  but  I  do  not  think 
that  this  opinion,  which  is  so  favorable  to  the  indolence  of  the 
inhabitants  of  southern,  regions,  is  confirmed  by  experience. 
The  southern  parts  of  the  Union  are  not  hotter  than  the  south 
of  Italy  and  of  Spain  ;f  and  it  may  be  asked  why  the  Euro 
pean  cannot  work  as  well  there  as  in  the  two  latter  countries. 
If  slavery  has  been  abolished  in  Italy  and  in  Spain  without 
causing  the  destruction  of  the  masters,  why  should  not  the 
same  thing  take  place  in  the  Union  ?  I  cannot  believe  that 
Nature  has  prohibited  the  Europeans  in  Georgia  and  the  Flo- 
ridas,  under  pain  of  death,  from  raising  the  means  of  sub 
sistence  from  the  soil ;  but  their  labor  would  unquestionably 
be  more  irksome  and  less  productive^  to  them  than  the  inha 
bitants  of  New  England.  As  the  free  workman  thus  loses 
a  portion  of  his  superiority  over  the  slave  in  the  southern 
states,  there  are  fewer  inducements  to  abolish  slavery. 

All  the  plants  of  Europe  grow  in  the  northern  parts  of  the 
Union  ;  the  south  has  special  productions  of  its  own.  It  has 
been  observed  that  slave  labor  is  a  very  expensive  method  of 
cultivating  corn.  The  farmer  of  corn-land  in  a  country 
where  slavery  is  unknown,  habitually  retains  a  small  number 
of  laborers  in  his  service,  and  at  seed-time  and  harvest  h.. 
hires  several  additional  hands,  who  only  live  at  his  cost  for  L 
short  period.  But  the  agriculturist  in  a  slave  state  is  oblige*! 
to  keep  a  large  number  of  slaves  the  whole  year  round,  in 

*  This  is  true  of  the  spots  in  which  rice  is  cultivated  ;  rice-grounds, 
which  are  unwholesome  in  all  countries,  are  particularly  dangerous  in 
those  regions  which  are  exposed  to  the  beams  of  a  tropical  sun.  Eu 
ropeans  would  not  find  it  easy  to  cultivate  the  soil  in  that  part  of  the 
New  World  if  it  must  necessarily  he  made  to  produce  rice;  but  may 
they  not  subsist  without  rice-grounds  ? 

f  These  states  are  nearer  to  the  equator  than  Italy  and  Spain,  but  the 
temperature  of  the  continent  of  America  is  very  much  lower  than  that 
of  Europe. 

$  The  Spanish  government  formerly  caused  a  certain  number  of  pea 
sants  from  the  Azores  to  be  transported  into  a  district  of  Louisiana 
tailed  Attakapas,  bj  way  of  experiment.  These  settlers  still  cultivate 
ne  soil  without  the  assistance  of  slaves,  but  their  industry  is  so  lan 
guid  as  scarcely  to  supply  their  most  necessary  wants 


374  PRESENT   Ali£    jUTURE    CONDITION    OF 

order  to  sow  his  fields  and  to  gather  in  his  crops,  although 
their  services  are  only  required  for  a  few  weeks ;  but  slaves 
are  unable  to  wait  till  they  are  hired,  and  to  subsist  by  their 
own  labor  in  the  meantime  like  free  laborers  ;  in  order  to 
have  their  services,  they  must  be  bought.  Slavery,  indepen 
dently  of  its  general  disadvantages,  is  therefore  still  more 
inapplicable  to  countries  in  which  corn  is  cultivated  than  to 
those  which  produce  crops  of  a  different  kind. 

The  cultivation  of  tobacco,  of  cotton,  and  especially  of  the 
sugar-cane,  demands,  on  the  other  hand,  unremitting  atten 
tion  :  and  women  and  children  are  employed  in  it,  whose  ser 
vices  are  of  but  little  use  in  the  cultivation  of  wheat.  Thus 
slavery  is  naturally  more  fitted  to  the  countries  from  which 
these  productions  are  derived. 

Tobacco,  cotton,  and  the  sugar-cane,  are  exclusively  gruwii 
in  the  south,  and  they  form  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  t/V, 
wealth  of  those  states.  If  slavery  were  abolished,  the  inhc 
bitants  of  the  south  would  be  constrained  to  adopt  one  of  tw* 
alternatives  :  they  must  either  change  their  system  of  culti 
vation,  and  then  they  would  come  into  competition  with  the 
more  active  and  more  experienced  inhabitants  of  the  north  ; 
or,  if  they  continued  to  cultivate  the  same  produce  without 
slave  labor,  they  would  have  to  support  the  competition  of  the 
other  states  of  the  south,  which  might  still  retain  their  slaves. 
Thus,  peculiar  reasons  for  maintaining  slavery  exist  in  the 
south  which  do  not  operate  in  the  north. 

But  there  is  yet  another  motive  which  is  more  cogent  than 
all  the  others  ;  the  south  might  indeed,  rigorously  speaking, 
abolish  slavery,  but  how  should  it  rid  its  territory  of  the  black 
population?  Slaves  and  slavery  are  driven  from  the  north 
by  the  same  law,  but  this  twofold  result  cannot  be  hoped  for 
in  the  south. 

The  arguments  which  I  have  adduced  to  show  that  slavery 
is  more  natural  and  more  advantageous  in  the  south  than  in 
the  north,  sufficiently  prove  that  the  number  of  slaves  must 
be  far  greater  in  the  former  districts.  It  was  to  the  southern 
settlements  that  the  first  Africans  were  brought,  and  it  is  there 
that  the  greatest  number  of  them  have  always  been  imported. 
As  we  advance  toward  the  south,  the  prejudice  which  sane- 
tions  idleness  increases  in  power.  In  the  states  nearest  to  the 
tropics  there  is  not  a  single  white  laborer ;  the  negroes  are 
consequently  much  more  numerous  in  the  south  than  in  the 
north.  And,  as  I  have  already  observed,  this  disproportion 
increases  daily,  since  the  negroes  are  transferred  to  one  part 
of  the  Union  as  soon  as  slavery  is  abolished  in  the  other. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING   THE    U.  S.  375 

Thus  the  black  population  augments  in  the  south,  not  only  by 
its  natural  fecundity,  but  by  the  compulsory  emigration  of 
the  negroes  from  the  north  ;  and  the  African  race  has  causes 
o^  increase  in  the  south  very  analogous  to  those  which  so  pow- 
e.  ully  acceleiate  the  growth  of  the  European  race  in  the 
north. 

In  the  state  of  Maine  there  is  one  negro  in  three  hundred 
inhabitants  ;  in  Massachusetts,  one  in  one  hundred ;  in  New 
York,  two  in  one  hundred  ;  in  Pennsylvania,  three  in  the  same 
number  ;  in  Maryland,  thirty-four  ;  in  Virginia,  forty-two ; 
and  lastly,  in  South  Carolina,  fifty-five  per  cent.*  Such  was 
the  proportion  of  the  black  population  to  the  whites  in  the  year 
1830.  But  this  proportion  is  perpetually  changing,  as  it  con 
stantly  decreases  in  the  north  and  augments  in  the  south. 

It  is  evident  that  the  most  southern  states  of  the  Union  can 
not  abolish  slavery  without  incurring  very  great  dangers, 
which  the  north  had  no  reason  to  apprehend  when  it  emanci 
pated  its  black  population.  We  have  already  shown  the  sys 
tem  by  which  the  northern  states  secure  the  transition  from 
slavery  to  freedom,  by  keeping  the  present  generation  in 
chains,  and  setting  their  descendants  free  ;  by  this  means  the 
negroes  are  gradually  introduced  into  society  ;  and  while  the 
men  who  might  abuse  their  freedom  are  kept  in  a  state  of 
servitude,  those  who  are  emancipated  may  learn  the  art  of 
being  free  before  they  become  their  own  masters.  But  it 
would  be  difficult  to  apply  this  method  in  the  south.  To  de 
clare  that  all  the  negroes  born  after  a  certain  period  shall  be 
free,  is  to  introduce  the  principle  and  the  notion  of  liberty  into 
the  heart  of  slavery  ;  the  blacks,  whom  the  law  thus  main 
tains  in  a  state  of  slavery  from  which  their  children  are  de 
livered,  are  astonished  at  so  unequal  a  fate,  and  their  aston- 

*  We  find  it  asserted  in  an  American  work,  entitled,  "  Letters  on 
the  Colonization  Society,"  by  Mr.  Carey,  1833,  that  "  for  the  last 
forty  years  the  black  race  has  increased  more  rapidly  than  the  white 
race  in  the  state  of  South  Carolina ;  and  that  if  we  take  the  average 
population  of  the  five  states  of  the  south  into  which  slaves  were  first 
introduced,  viz.,  Maryland,  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina, 
and  Georgia,  we  shall  find  that  from  1790  to  1830,  the  whites  have 
augmented  in  the  proportion  of  80  to  100,  and  the  blacks  in  that  of 
112  to  100." 

In  the  United  States,  1830,  the  population  of  the  two  races  stood  as 
follows  : — 

States  where  slavery  is  abolished,  6,565,434  whites  ;  120,520  blacks 
Slave  states,  3,060,814  whites;  2,208,112  blacks. 

[By  the  census  of  1840,  the  population  of  the  two  races  was  as  fol 
lows  :  States  where  slavery  is  abolished,  9,556,065  whites;  ]  71,804 
blacks.  Slave  states,  4,633,153  whites  ;  2,581,688  blacks  ] 


476  PRESENT   AND   FUTURE    CONDITION    OF 

ishment  is  only  the  prelude  to  their  impatience  and  irritation. 
Thenceforward  slavery  loses  in  their  eyes  that  kind  of  moral 
power  which  it  derived  from  time  and  habit ;  it  is  reduced  to 
a  mere  palpable  abuse  of  force.  The  northern  states  had 
nothing  to  fear  from  the  contrast,  because  in  them  the  blacks 
were  few  in  number,  and  the  white  population  was  very  con 
siderable.  But  if  this  faint  dawn  of  freedom  were  to  show 
two  millions  of  men  their  true  position,  the  oppressors  would 
have  reason  to  tremble.  After  having  enfranchised  the  chil 
dren  of  their  slaves,  the  Europeans  of  the  southern  states 
would  very  shortly  be  obliged  to  extend  the  same  benefit  to  the 
whole  black  population. 

In  the  north,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  a  'two-fold 
migration  ensues  upon  the  abolition  of  slavery,  or  even  pre 
cedes  that  event  when  circumstances  have  rendered  it  proba 
ble  ;  the  slaves  quit  the  country  to  be  transported  southward ; 
and  the  whites  of  the  northern  states  as  well  as  the  emigrants 
from  Europe  hasten  to 'fill  up  their  place.  But  these  two 
causes  cannot  operate  in  the  same  manner  in  the  southern 
states.  On  the  one  hand,  the  mass  of  slaves  is  too  great  for 
any  expectation  of  their  ever  being  removed  from  the  country 
to  be  entertained ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  Europeans  and 
the  Anglo-Americans  of  the  north  are  afraid  to  come  to 
inhabit  a  country,  in  which  labor  has  not  yet  been  reinstated 
in  its  rightful  honors.  Besides,  they  very  justly  look  upon 
the  states  in  which  the  proportion  of  the  negroes  equals  or 
exceeds  that  of  the  whites,  as  exposed  to  very  great  dangers  j 
and  they  refrain  from  turning  their  activity  in  that  direction. 

Thus  the  inhabitants  ">f  the  south  would  not  be  able,  like 
their  northern  countrymen,  to  initiate  the  slaves  gradually 
into  a  state  of  freedom,  by  abolishing  slavery  ;  they  have  no 
means  of  perceptibly  diminishing  the  black  population,  and 
they  would  remain  unsupported  to  repress  its  excesses.  So 
that  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  a  great  people  of  free  ne 
groes  would  exist  in  the  heart  of  a  white  nation  of  equal  size. 

The  same  abuses  of  power  which  still  maintain  slavery, 
would  then  become  the  source  of  the'  most  alarming  perils, 
which  the  white  population  of  the  south  might  have  to  appre 
hend.  At  the  present  time  the  descendants  of  the  Europeans 
are  the  sole  owners  of  the  land  ;  the  absolute  masters  of  all 
labor ;  and  the  only  persons  who  are  possessed  of  wealth, 
knowledge,  and  arms.  The  black  is  destitute  of  all  these  ad 
vantages,  but  he  subsists  without  them  because  he  is  a  slave. 
If  he  were  free,  and  obliged  to  provide  for  his  own  subsistence, 
would  it  be  Dossible  for  him  to  remain  without  these  things 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  377 

and  to  supj> :-"*,  life?  Or  would  not  the  very  instruments  of 
the  present  superiority  of  the  white,  while  slavery  exists,  ex 
pose  him  to  a  thousand  dangers  if  it  were  abolished  ? 

As  long  as  the  negro  remains  a  slave,  he  may  be  kept  in  a 
condition  not  very  far  removed  from  that  of  the  brutes ;  but, 
with  his  liberty,  he  cannot  but  acquire  a  degree  of  instruc 
tion  which  will  enable  him  to  appreciate  his  misfortunes,  and 
to  discern  a  remedy  for  them.  Moreover,  there  exists  a  sin 
gular  principle  of  relative  justice  which  is  very  firmly  im 
planted  in  the  human  heart.  Men  are  much  more  forcibly 
struck  by  those  inequalities  which  exist  within  the  circles  of 
the  same  class,  than  with  those  which  may  be  remarked  be 
tween  different  classes.  It  is  more  easy  for  them  to  admit 
slavery,  than  to  allow  several  millions  of  citizens  to  exist 
under  a  load  of  eternal  infamy  and  hereditary  wretchedness. 
In  the  north,  the  population  of  freed  negroes  feels  these  hard 
ships  and  resents  these  indignities ;  but  its  members  and  its 
powers  are  small,  while  in  the  south  it  would  be  numerous 
and  strong. 

As  soon  as  it  is  admitted  that  the  whites  and  the  emanci 
pated  blacks  are  placed  upon  the  same  territory  in  the  situa 
tion  of  two  alien  communities,  it  will  readily  be  understood 
that  there  are  but  two  alternatives  for  the  future  ;  the  negroes 
and  the  whites  must  either  wholly  part  or  wholly  mingle.  J 
have  already  expressed  the  conviction  which  I  entertain  as  to 
the  latter  event.*  I  do  not  imagine  that  the  white  and  the 
black  races  will  ever  live  in  any  country  upon  an  equal 
footing.  But  I  believe  the  difficulty  to  be  still  greater  in  the 
United  States  than  elsewhere.  An  isolated  individual  may 
surmount  the  prejudices  of  religion,  of  his  country,  or  of  his 
race,  and  if  this  individual  is  a  king  he  may  effect  surprising 
changes  in  society  ;  but  a  whole  people  cannot  rise,  as  it  were, 
above  itself.  A  despot  who  should  subject  the  Americans  and 
their  former  slaves  to  the  same  yoke,  might  perhaps  succeed 
in  commingling  their  races ;  but  as  long  as  the  American 
democracy  remains  at  the  head  of  affairs,  no  one  will  under 
take  so  difficult  a  task ;  and  it  may  be  foreseen  that  the  freer 

*  This  opinion  is  sanctioned  by  authorities  infinitely  weightier  than 
anything  that  I  can  say;  thus,  for  instance,  it  is  stated  in  the  Memoirs 
of  Jefferson  (as  collected  by  M.  Conseil),  "  Nothing  is  more  clearly 
written  in  the  book  of  destiny  than  the  emancipation  of  the  blacks;  and 
it  is  equally  certain  that  the  two  races  will  never  live  in  a  state  of  equal 
freedom  under  the  same  government,  so  insurmountable  are  the  barriers 
tvhich  nature,  habit,  and  opinions,  have  established  between  them  '* 


378         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

the  white  population  of  the  United  States  becomes,  the  more 
isolated  will  it  remain.* 

I  have  previously  observed  that  the  mixed  race  is  the  true 
bond  of  union  between  the  Europeans  and  the  Indians ;  just 
so  the  mulattoes  are  the  true  means  of  transition  between  the 
white  and  the  negro ;'  so  that  wherever  mulattoes  abound,  the 
intermixture  of  the  two  races  is  not  impossible.  In  some 
parts  of  America  the  European  and  the  negro  races  are  so 
crossed  by  one  another,  that  it  is  rare  to  meet  with  a  man 
who  is  entirely  black  or  entirely  white :  when  they  are  ar 
rived  at  this  point,  the  two  races  may  really  be  said  to  be 
combined ;  or  rather  to  have  been  absorbed  in  a  third  race, 
which  is  connected  with  both,  without  being  identical  with 
either. 

Of  all  the  Europeans  the  English  are  those  who  have 
mixed  least  with  the  negroes.  More  mulattoes  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  south  of  the  Union  than  in  the  north,  but  still  they  are 
infinitely  more  scarce  than  in  any  other  European  colony  : 
Mulattoes  are  by  no  means  numerous  in  the  United  States  ; 
they  have  no  force  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  when  quarrels 
originating  in  differences  of  color  take  place,  they  generally 
side  with  the  whites,  just  as  the  lacqueys  of  the  great  in 
Europe  assume  the  contemptuous  airs  of  nobility  to  the  lower 
orders.  . 

The  pride  of  origin,  which  is  natural  to  the  English,  is 
singularly  augmented  by  the  personal  pride  which  democratic 
liberty  fosters  among  the  Americans :  the  white  citizen  of  the 
United  States  is  proud  of  his  race,  and  proud  of  himself.  But 
if  the  whites  and  the  negroes  do  not  intermingle  in  the  north 
of  the  Union,  how  should  they  mix  in  the  south  ?  Can  it  be 
supposed  for  an  instant,  that  an  American  of  the  southern 
states,  placed,  as  he  must  for  ever  be,  between  the  white  man 
with  all  his  physical  and  moral  superiority,  and  the  negro, 
will  ever  think  of  preferring  the  latter  ?  The  Americans  of 
the  southern  states  have  two  powerful  passions,  which  will 
always  keep  them  aloof;  the  first  is  the  fear  of  being  assimi 
lated  to  the  negroes,  their  former  slaves ;  and  the  second,  the 
dread  of  sinking  below  the  whites,  their  neighbors. 

If  I  were  called  upon  to  predict  what  will  probably  occur 
at  some  future  time,  I  should  say,  that  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  south,  will,  in  the  common  course  of  things,  increase 
the  repugnance  of  the  white  population  for  the  men  of  color. 

*  If  the  British  West  India  planters  had  governed  themselves,  they 
would  assuredly  not  have  passed  the  slave  emancipation  bill  which 
the  mother  country  has  recently  imposed  upon  them. 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  379 

I  found  this  opinion  upon  the  analogous  observation  which  I 
already  had  occasion  to  make  in  the  north.  I  there  remarked, 
that  the  white  inhabitants  of  the  north  avoid  the  negroes  with 
increasing  care,  in  proportion  as  the  legal  barriers  of  separa 
tion  are  removed  by  the  legislature  ;  and  why  should  not  the 
same  result  take  place  in  the  south  ?  In 'the  north,  the  whites 
are  deterred  from  intermingling  with  the  blacks  by  the  fear 
of  an  imaginary  danger  ;  in  the  south,  where  the  danger 
would  be  real,  1  cannot  imagine  that  the  fear  would  be  less 
general. 

If,  on  the  one  hand,  it  be  admitted  (and  the  fact  is  unques 
tionable),  that  the  colored  population  perpetually  accumulates 
in  tbe  extreme  south,  and  that  it  increases  more  rapidly  than 
that  of  the  whites  ;  and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  it  be  allowed  that 
it  is  impossible  to  foresee  a  time  at  which  the  whites  and  the 
blacks  will  be  so  intermingled  as  to  derive  the  same  benefits 
from  society  ;  must  it  not  be  inferred,  that  the  blacks  and  the 
whites  will,  sooner  or  later,  come  to  open  strife  in  the  south 
ern  states  of  the  Union  ?  But  if  it  be  asked  what  the 
issue  of  the  struggle  is  likely  to  be,  it  will  readily  be  under 
stood,  that  we  are  here  left  to  form  a  very  vague  surmise  of 
the  truth.  The  human  mind  may  succeed  in  tracing  a  wide 
circle,  as  it  were,  which  includes  the  course  of  future  events  ; 
but  within  that  circle  a  thousand  various  chances  and  cir 
cumstances  may  direct  it  in  as  many  different  ways  ;  and  in 
every  picture  of  the  future  there  is  a  dim  spot,  which  the  eye 
of  the  understanding  cannot  penetrate.  It  appears,  however, 
to  be  extremely  probable,  that  in  the  West  India  islands  the 
white  race  is  destined  to  be  subdued,  and  the  black  population 
to  share  the  same  fate  upon  the  continent. 

In  the  West  India  islands  the  white  planters  are  surrounded 
by  an  immense  black  population  ;  on  the  continent,  the  blacks 
are  placed  between  the  ocean  and  an  innumerable  people, 
which  already  extends  over  them  in  a  dense  mass  from  the 
icy  confines  of  Canada  to  the  frontiers  of  Virginia,  and  from 
the  banks  of  the  Missouri  to  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic.  If 
the  white  citizens  of  North  America  remain  united,  it  cannot 
be  supposed  that  the  negroes  will  escape  the  destruction  with 
which  they  are  menaced  ;  they  must  be  subdued  by  want  or 
by  the  sword.  But  the  black  population  which  is  accumu 
lating  along  the  coast  of  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  has  a  chance  of 
success,  if  the  American  Union  is  dissolved  when  the  struggle 
between  the  two  races  begins.  If  the  federal  tie  were  broken, 
the  citizens  of  the  south  would  be  wrong  to  rely  upon  any 
lasting  succor  from  their  northern  countrymen.  The  latter 


380         PRESENT  AND  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF 

are  well  aware  that  the  danger  can  never  reach  them ;  and 
unless  they  are  constrained  to  march  to  the  assistance  of  the 
south  by  a  positive  obligation,  it  may  be  foreseen  that  the 
sympathy  of  color  will  be  insufficient  to  stimulate  their 
exertions. 

Yet,  at  whatever  period  the  strife  may  break  out,  the  whites 
of  the  south,  even  if  they  are  abandoned  to  their  own  resour* 
ces,  will  enter  the  lists  with  an  immense  superiority  of  know 
ledge  and  of  the  means  of  warfare  :  but  the  blacks  will  have 
numerical  strength  and  the  energy  of  despair  upon  their  side ; 
and  these  are  powerful  resources  to  men  who  have  taken  up 
arms.  The  fate  of  the  white  population  of  the  southern 
states  will,  perhaps,  be  similar  to  that  of  the  Moors  in  Spain. 
After  having  occupied  the  land  for  centuries,  it  will  perhaps 
be  forced  to  retire  to  the  country  whence  its  ancestors  came, 
and  to  abandon  to  the  negroes  the  possession  of  a  territory, 
which  Providence  seems  to  have  more  peculiarly  destined  for 
them,  since  they  can  subsist  and  labor  in  it  more  easily  than 
the  whites. 

The  danger  of  a  conflict  between  the  white  and  the  black 
inhabitants  of  the  southern  states  of  the  Union — a  danger 
which,  however  remote  it  may  be,  is  inevitable — perpetually 
haunts  the  imagination  of  the  Americans.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  north  make  it  a  common  topic  of  conversation,  although 
they  have  no  direct  injury  to  fear  from  the  struggle  ;  but  they 
vainly  endeavor  to  devise  some  means  of  obviating  the  mis 
fortunes  which  they  foresee.  In  the  southern  states  the  sub 
ject  is  not  discussed  :  the  planter  does  not  allude  to  the  future 
in  conversing  with  strangers;  the  citizen  does  not  communi 
cate  his  apprehensions  to  his  friends  :  he  seeks  to  conceal 
them  from  himself:  but  there  is  something  more  alarming  in 
the  tacit  forebodings  of  the  south,  than  in  the  clamorous  fears 
of  the  northern  states. 

This  all-pervading  disquietude  has  given  birth  to  an  under 
taking  which  is  but  little  known,  but  which  may  have  the 
effect  of  changing  the  fate  of  a  portion  of  the  human  race. 
From  apprehension  of  the  dangers  which  I  have  just  been  de 
scribing,  a  certain  number  of  American  citizens  have  formed 
a  society  for  the  purpose  of  exporting  to  the  coast  of  Guinea, 
at  their  own  expense,  such  free  negroes  as  may  be  willing  to 
escape  from  the  oppression  to  which  they  are  subject.* 

*  This  society  assumed  the  name  "  The  Society  for  the  Coloniza 
tion  of  the  Blacks."  See  its  annual  reports  ;  and  more  particularly 
the  fifteenth.  See  also  the  pamphlet,  to  which  allusion  has  already 
been  made,  entitled  "  Letters  on  the  Colonization  Society,  and  on  its 
probable  results,"  by  Mr.  Carey,  Philadelphia,  April,  1833.  ' 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  381 

In  1820,  the  society  to  which  I  allude  formed  a  settlement 
in  Africa,  upon  the  7th  degree  of  north  latitude,  which  bears 
the  name  of  Liberia.  The  most  recent  intelligence  informs 
us  that  two^thousand  five  hundred  negroes  are  collected  there  ; 
they  have  introduced  the  democratic  institutions  of  America 
into  the  country  of  their  forefathers  ;  and  Liberia  has  a  rep 
resentative  system  of  government,  negro-jurymen,  negro- 
magistrates,  and  negro-priests ;  churches  have  been  built, 
newspapers  established,  and,  by  a  singular  change  in  the  vicis 
situdes  of  the  world,  white  men  are  prohibited  from  sojourn 
ing  within  the  settlement.* 

This  is  indeed  a  strange  caprice  of  fortune.  Two  hundred 
years  have  now  elapsed  since  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  un 
dertook  to  tear  the  negro  from  his  family  and  his  home,  in 
order  to  transport  him  to  the  shores  of  North  America  ;  at 
the  present  day,  the  European  settlers  are  engaged  in  sending 
back  the  descendants  of  those  very  negroes  to  the  continent 
from  which  they  were  originally  taken  ;  and  the  barbarous 
Africans  have  been  brought  into  contact  with  civilisation  in 
the  midst  of  bondage,  and  have  become  acquainted  with  free 
political  institutions  in  slavery.  Up  to  the  present  time  Africa 
has  been  closed  against  the  arts  and  sciences  of  the  whites  ; 
but  the  inventions  of  Europe  will  perhaps  penetrate  into  those 
regions,  now  that  they  are  introduced  by  Africans  themselves. 
The  settlement  of  Liberia  is  founded  upon  a  lofty  and  a  most 
fruitful  idea  ;  but  whatever  may  be  its  results  with  regard  to 
the  continent  of  Africa,  it  can  afford  no  remedy  to  the  New 
World. 

In  twelve  years  the  Colonization  society  has  transported 
two  thousand  five  hundred  negroes  to  Africa  ;  in  the  same 
space  of  time  about  seven  hundred  thousand  blacks  were  born 
in  the  United  States.  If  the  colony  of  Liberia  were  so  situ 
ated  as  to  be  able  to  receive  thousands  of  new  inhabitants 
every  year,  and  if  the  negroes  were  in  a  state  to  be  sent 
thither  with  advantage  ;  if  the  Union  were  to  supply  the  soci 
ety  with  annual  subsidies,!  and  to  transport  the  negroes  to 

*  This  last  regulation  was  laid  down  by  the  founders  of  the  settle 
ment  ;  they  apprehended  that  a  state  of  things  might  arise  in  Africa, 
similar  to  that  which  exists  on  the  frontiers  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  if  the  negroes,  like  the  Indians,  were  brought  into  collision  with 
a  people  more  enlightened  than  themselves,  they  would  be  destroyed 
before  they  could  be  civilized. 

f  Nor  would  these  be  the  only  difficulties  attendant  upon  the  under 
taking  ;  if  the  Union  undertook  to  buy  up  the  negroes  now  in  Ame 
rica,  in  order  to  transport  them  to  Africa,  the  price  of  slaves,  Increas 
ing  with  their  scarcity,  would  soon  becorr.e  enormous;  and  the  states 


PRESENT   AND    FUTURE    CONDITION    OF 

Africa  in  vessels  of  the  state,  it  would  be  still  unable  to 
counterpoise  the  natural  increase  of  population  among  the 
blacks ;  and  as  it  would  not  remove  as  many  men  in  a  year 
as  are  born  upon  its  territory  within  the  same  space  of  time, 
it  would  fail  in  suspending  the  growth  of  the  evil  which  is 
daily  increasing  in  the  states.*  The  negro  race  will  never 
leave  those  shores  of  the  American  continent,  to  which  it 
was  brought  by  the  passions  and  the  vices  of  Europeans ;  and 
it  will  not  disappear  from  the  New  World  as  long  as  it  con 
tinues  to  exist.  The  inhabitants  /"  ..ne  United  States  may 
retard  the  calamities  which  they  apprehend,  but  they  cannot 
now  destroy  their  efficient  cause. 

I  am  obliged  to  confess  that  I  do  not  regard  the  abolition  of 
slavery  as  a  means  of  warding  off  the  struggle  of  the  two 
races  in  the  United  States.  The  negroes  may  long  remain 
slaves  without  complaining  ;  but  if  they  are  once  raised  to 
the  level  of  freemen,  they  will  soon  revolt  at  being  deprived 
of  all  their  civil  rights  ;  and  as  they  cannot  become  the  equals 
of  the  whites,  they  will  speedily  declare  themselves  as  ene 
mies.  In  the  north  everything  contributed  to  facilitate  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  ;  and  slavery  was  at*,  ished,  with 
out  placing  the  free  negroes  in  a  position  which  could  become 
formidable,  since  their  number  was  too  s»<  nil  frr  them  ever 
to  claim  the  exercise  of  their  rights.  B'^c  sujn  is  not  the 
case  in  the  south.  The  question  of  slavery  was  a  question 
of  commerce  and  manufacture  for  the  slave-owners  in  the 
north ;  for  those  of  the  south,  it  is  a  question  of  life  and 
death.  God  forbid  that  I  should  seek  to  justify  the  principle 
of  negro  slavery,  as  has  been  done  by  some  American  writ 
ers  !  But  I  only  observe  that  all  the  countries  which  formerly 
adopted  that  execrable  principle  are  not  equally  able  to  aban 
don  it  at  the  present  time. 

When  I  contemplate  the  condition  of  the  south,  I  can  only 
discover  tv/o  alternatives  which  may  be  adopted  by  the  white 
inhabitants  of  those  states  :  viz.,  either  to  emancipate  the 

of  the  north  would  never  consent  to  expend  such  great  sums,  fora  pur 
pose  which  would  procure  such  small  advantages  to  themselves.  If 
the  TJnion  took  possession  of  the  slaves  in  the  southern  states  by  force, 
or  ut  a  rate  determined  by  law,  an  insurmountable  resistance  would 
arise  in  that  part  of  the  country.  Both  alternatives  are  equally  impos 
sible. 

*  In  1830  there  were  in  the  United  States  2,010,327  slaves  and 
319,439  blacks,  in  all  2,329, 760  negroes,  which  formed  about  one-fifth 
of  the  total  population  of  the  United  States  at  that  time. 

[In  1840  there  were  in  the  United  States  2,486,348  slaves,  and 
386,232  free  blacks;  in  all,  2,872,580  negroes,  which  formed  about 
one-sixth  of  the  total  population.] 


THE    THREE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    TJ.  S  J3>*<3 

negroes,  and  to  intermingle  with  them  ;  or,  remaining  isolated 
from  them,  to  keep  them  in  a  state  of  slavery  as  long  as  pos 
sible.  All  intermediate  measures  seem  to  me  likely  to  ter 
minate,  and  that  shortly,  in  the  most  horrible  of  civil  wars, 
and  perhaps  in  the  extirpation  of  one  or  other  of  the  two 
races.  Such  is  the  view  which  the  Americans  of  the  south 
take  of  the  question,  and  they  act  consistently  with  it.  As 
they  are  determined  not  to  mingle  with  the  negroes,  they  re 
fuse  to  emancipate  them. 

Not  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  south  regard  slavery  as 
necessary  to  the  wealth  of  the  planter  ;  for  on  this  point 
many  of  them  agree  with  their  northern  countrymen  in  freely 
admitting  that  slavery  is  prejudicial  to  their  interests  ;  but 
they  are  convinced  that,  however  prejudicial  it  may  be,  they 
hold  their  lives  upon  no  other  tenure.  The  instruction  which 
's  now  diffused  in  the  south  has  convinced  the  inhabitants  that 
•la very  is  injurious  to  the  slave-owner,  but  it  has  also  shown 
•'nem,  more  clearly  than  before,  that  no  means  exist  of  getting 
rid  of  its  bad  consequences.  Hence  arises  a  singular  con- 
•rast  ;  the  more  the  utility  of  slavery  is  contested,  the  more 
'irmly  is  it  established  in  the  laws  ;  and  while  the  principle 
*of  servitude  is  gradually  abolished  in  the  north,  that  self-same 
principle  gives  rise  to  more  and  more  rigorous  consequences 
.;n  the  soirh. 

The  legislation  of  the  southern  states,  with  regard  to  slaves, 
presents  at  the  present  day  such  unparalleled  atrocities,  as  suf- 
(ice  to  show  how  radically  the  laws  of  humanity  have  been 
perverted,  and  to  betray  the  desperate  position  of  the  commu 
nity  in  which  that  legislation  has  been  promulgated.  The 
A  mericans  of  this  portion  of  the  Union  have  not,  indeed,  aug 
mented  the  hardships  of  slavery ;  they  have,  on  the  contrary, 
bettered  the  physical  condition  of  the  slaves.  The  only 
means  by  which  the  ancients  maintained  slavery  were  fet 
ters  and  death ;  the  Americans  of  the  south  of  the  Union 
have  discovered  mo-re  intellectual  securities  for  the  duration  of 
their  power.  They  have  employed  their  despotism  and  their 
violence  against  the  human  mind.  In  antiquity,  precautions 
were  taken  to  prevent  the  slave  from  breaking  his  chains ;  at 
the  present  day  measures  are  adopted  to  deprive  him  even  of 
ihe  desire  of  freedom.  The  ancients  kept  the  bodies  of  their 
.slaves  in  bondage,  but  they  placed  no  restraint  upon  the  mind 
and  no  check  upon  education  ;  and  they  acted  consistently 
•vith  their  established  principle,  since  a  natural  termination  of 
^avery  then  existed,  and  one  day  or  other  the  slave  might  be 
r.f;t  free,  and  become  the  equal  of  his  master.  But  the  Ame- 


384         PRESENT  A'NT.  A  JRE  CONDITION  OF 

ricans  of  the  south,  wbr  k>  not  admit  that  the  negroes  can 
ever  be  commingled  w;t*t  themselves,  have  forbidden  them  to 
be  taught  to  read  or  to  vrrite,  under  severe  penalties  •  and  as 
they  will  not  raise  ther.  to  their  own  level,  they  sink  them  as 
nearly  as  possible  to.  tnat  of  the  brutes. 

The  hope  of  liberty  had  always  been  allowed  to  the  slave 
to  cheer  the  hardships  of  his  condition.  But  the  Americans 
of  the  south  are  well  aware  that  emancipation  cannot  but  be 
dangerous,  when  .he  freed  man  can  never  be  assimilated  to 
his  former  master.  To  give  a  man  his  freedom,  and  to  leave 
him  in  wretchedness  and  ignominy,  is  nothing  less  than  to 
prepare  a  future  chief  for  a  revolt  of  the  slaves.  Moreover, 
it  has  long  been  remarked,  that  J;he  presence  of  a  free  negro 
vaguely  agitates  the  minds  of  his  less  fortunate  brethren,  and 
conveys  to  them  a  dim  notion  of  their  rights.  The  Ameri 
cans  of  the  south  have  consequently  taken  measures  to  pre 
vent  slave-owners  from  emancipating  their  slaves  in  most 
cases  ;  not  indeed  by  a  positive  prohibition,  but  by  subjecting 
that  step  to  various  terms  which  it  is  difficult  to  comply  with. 

I  happened  to  meet  with  an  old  man,  in  the  south  of  the 
Union,  who  had  lived  in  illicit  intercourse  with  one  of  his  ne- 
gresses,  and  had  ha«i  several  children  by  her,  who  were  born 
tne  slaves  of  their  father.  He  had  indeed  frequently  thought 
of  beqf^eathing  to  1hem  at  least  their  liberty  ;  but  years  had 
elapsed  without  his  being  able  to  surmount  the  legal  obstacles 
to  their  emancipation,  and  in  the  meanwhile  his  old  age  was 
come,  and  he  wa.^  about  to  die.  He  pictured  to  himself  his 
sons  dragged  from  market  to  market,  and  passing  from  the 
authority  of  a  parent  to  the  rod  of  the  stranger,  until  these 
horrid  anticipations  worked  his  expiring  imagination  into 
phrensy.  Wlvi  I  saw  him  he  was  a  prey  to  all  the  anguish 
of  despair,  and  \ie  made  me  feel  how  awful  is  the  retribution 
of  Nature  upon  those  who  have  broken  her  laws. 

These  evils  are  unquestionably  great ;  but  they  are  the  ne 
cessary  and  foreseen  consequences  of  the  very  principle  of 
modern  slavery.  When  the  Europeans  chose  their  slaves 
from  a  race  differing  from  their  own,  which  many  of  them 
considered  as  inferior  to  the  other  races  of  mankind,  and 
which  they  all  repelled  with  horror  from  any  notion  of  inti 
mate  connexion,  they  must  have  believed  that  slavery  would 
last  for  ever ;  since  there  is  no  intermediate  state  which  can 
be  durable,  between  the  excessive  inequality  produced  by 
servitude,  and  the  complete  equality  which  originates  in  inde 
pendence.  The  Europeans  did  imperfectly  feel  this  truth, 
but  without  acknowledging  it  even  to  themselves.  Whenever 


THE    THKEE    RACES    INHABITING    THE    U.  S.  385 

they  have  had  to  do  with  negroes,  their  conduct  has  either 
been  dictated  by  their  interest  and  their  pride,  or  by  their 
compassion.  They  first  violated  every  right  of  humanity  by 
their  treatment  of  the  negro  ;  and  they  afterward  informed 
him  that  those  rights  were  precious  and  inviolable.  They 
affected  to  open  their  ranks  to  the  slave,  but  the  negroes 
who  attempted  to  penetrate  into  the  community  were  driven 
back  with  scorn ;  and  they  have  incautiously  and  in. 
voluntarily  been  led  to  admit  of  freedom  instead  of  slavery, 
without  having  the  courage  to  be  wholly  iniquitous,  or  wholly 
just,  (a)  / 

If  it  be  impossible  to  anticipate  a  period  at  which  the 
Americans  of  the  south  will  mingle  their  blood  with  that  of 
the  negroes,  can  they  allow  their  slaves  to  become  free  with 
out  compromising  their  own  security  ?  And  if  they  are  obliged 
to  keep  that  race  in  bondage,  in  order  to  save  their  own  fami 
lies,  may  they  not  be  excused  for  availing  themselves  of  the 
means  best  adapted  to  that  end?  The  events  which  are  tak 
ing  place  in  the  southern  states  of  the  Union,  appear  to  be  at 
once  the  most  horrible  and  the  most  natural  results  of  slavery. 
When  I  see  the  order  of  nature  overthrown,  and  when  I  hear 
the  cry  of  humanity  in  its  vain  struggle  against  the  laws, 
my  indignation  does  not  light  upon  the  men  of  our  own  time 
who  were  the  instruments  of  these  outrages  ;  but  I  reserve 
my  execration  for  those  who,  after  a  thousand  years  of  free 
dom,  brought  back  slavery  into  the  world  once  more. 

Whatever  may  be  the  efforts  of  the  Americans  of  the  south 
to  maintain  slavery,  they  will  not  always  succeed.  Slavery, 
which  is  now  confined  to  a  single  tract  of  the  civilized  earth, 
which  is  attacked  by  Christianity  as  unjust,  and  by  political 
economy  as  prejudicial,  and  which  is  now  contrasted  with 
democratic  liberties  and  the  information  of  our  age,  cannot 
survive.  By  the  choice  of  the  master  or  the  will  of  the 
slave,  it  will  cease ;  and  in  either  case  great  calamities  may 
be  expected  to  ensue.  If  liberty  be  refused  to  the  negroes  of 
the  south,  they  will  in  the  end  seize  it  for  themselves  by 
force ;  if  it  be  given,  they  will  abuse  it  ere  long. 

(a)  In  the  original,  "  Voulant  la  servitude,  il  se  sont  laisse  entrainer, 
malgre  eux  ou  a  leur  insu,  vers  la  liberte." 

"  Desiring  servitude,  they  have  suffered  themselves,  involuntarily  or 
ignorantly,  lo  be  drawn  toward  liberty." — Reviser 
25 


386  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN   UNION, 


WHAT     ARE     THE     CHANCES     IN     FAVOR    OF    THE     DURATION    OF 
THE    AMERICAN    UNION,    AND   WHAT    DANGERS    THREATEN    IT. 

Reasons  why  the  preponderating  Force  lies  in  the  States  rather  than  in 
the  Union  — The  Union  will  only  -last  as  long  as  all  the  States 
choose  to  belong  to  it. — Causes  which  tend  to  keep  them  united. — 
Utility  of  the  Union  to  resist  foreign  Enemies,  and  to  prevent  the 
Existence  of  Foreigners  in  America. — No  natural  Barriers  between 
the  several  States. — No  conflicting  Interests  to  divide  them. — Re 
ciprocal  Interests  of  the  Northern,  Southern,  and  Western  States. — 
Intellectual  ties  of  Union  —Uniformity  of  Opinions. — Dangers  of 
the  Union  resulting  from  the  different  Characters  and  the  Passions 
of  its  Citizens.— Character  of  the  Citizens  in  the  South  and  in  the 
North. — The  rapid  growth  of  the  Union  one  of  its  greatest  Dangers. 
— Progress  of  the  Population  to  the  Northwest. — Power  gravitates 
in  the  same  Direction. — Passions  originating  from  sudden  turns  of 
Fortune. — Whether  the  existing  Government  of  the  Union  tends  to 
gain  strength,  or  to  lose  it. — Various  signs  of  its  Decrease. — Internal 
Inprovement. — Waste  Lands. — Indians. — The  Bank. — The  Tariff. 
— General  Jackson. 

THE  maintenance  of  the  existing  institutions  of  the  several 
states  depends  in  some  measure  upon  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union  itself.  ,  It  is  therefore  important  in  the  first  instance  to 
inquire  into  Che  probable  fate  of  the  Union.  One  point  may 
indeed  be  assumed  at  once  ;  if  the  present  confederation  were 
dissolved,  it  appears  to  me  to  be  incontestable  that  the  states 
of  which  it  is  now  composed  would  not  return  to  their  origi 
nal  isolated  condition  ;  but  that  several  Unions  would  then 
be  formed  in  the  place  of  one.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  in 
quire  into  the  principles  upon  which  these  new  Unions  would 
probably  be  established,  but  merely  to  show  what  the  causes 
are  which  may  effect  the  dismemberment  of  the  existing 
confederation.^ 

With  this  object  I  shall  be  obliged  to  retrace  some  of  the 
steps  which  I  have  already  taken,  and  to  revert  to  topics 
which  I  have  before  discussed.  I  am  aware  that  the  reader 
may  accuse  me  of  repetition,  but  the  importance  of  the  mat 
ter  which  still  remains  to  be  treated  is  my  excuse ;  I  had 
rather  say  too  much,  than  say  too  little  to  be  thoroughly  un 
derstood,  and  I  prefer  injuring  the  author  to  slighting  the 
subject. 

The  legislators  who  formed  the  constitution  of  1789  en- 
deavored  to  confer  a  distinct  and  preponderating  authority 
upon  the  federal  power.     But  they  were  confined  by  the  con 
ditions  of  the  task  which  they  had  undertaken  to  perform. 
\They  were  not  appointed  to  constitute  the  government  of  a 


AN:D  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.       387 

single  people,  but  to  regulate  the  association  of  several  states  ; 
and,  whatever  their  inclinations  might  be,  they  could  not  but 
divide  the  exercise  of  sovereignty  in  the  end. 

In  order  to  understand  the  consequences  of  this  division, 
it  is  necessary  to  make  a  short  distinction  between  the  affairs 
of  government.  There  are  some  objects  which  are  national 
by  their  very  nature,  that  is  to  say,  which  affect  the  nation 
as  a  body,  and  can  only  be  Entrusted  to  the  man  or  the  assem 
bly  of  men  who  most  completely  represent  the  entire  nation. 
Among  these  may  be  reckoned  war  and  diplomacy.  There 
are  other  objects  which  are  provincial  by  their  very  nature, 
that  is  to  say,  which  only  affect  certain  localities,  and  which 
can  only  be  properly  treated  in  that  locality.  Such,  for  in 
stance,  is  the  budget  of  municipality.  Lastly,  there  are 
certain  objects  of  a  mixed  nature,  which  are  national  inas 
much  as  they  affect  all  the  citizens  who  compose  the  nation, 
and  which  are  provincial  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  necessary  that 
the  nation  itself  should  provide  for  them  all.  Such  are  the 
rights  which  regulate  the  civil  and  political  condition  of  the 
citizens.  No  society  can  exist  without  civil  and  political 
rights.  These  rights  therefore  interest  all  the  citizens  alike  ; 
but  it  is  not  always  necessary  to  the  existence  and  the  pros 
perity  of  the  nation  that  these  rights  should  be  uniform,  nor 
consequently,  that  they  should  be  regulated  by  the  central 
authority/) 

There  are,  then,  Ntwo  distinct  categories  of  objects  which 
are  submitted  to  the  direction  of  the  sovereign  power ;  and 
these  categories  occur  in  all  well-constituted  communities, 
whatever  the  basis  of  the  political  constitution  may  otherwise 
be.  Between  these  two  extremes,  the  objects  which  I  have 
termed  mixed  may  be  considered  to  lie.  As  these  objects 
are  neither  exclusively  national  nor  entirely  provincial,  they 
may  be  attained  by  a  national  or  a  provincial  government, 
according  to  the  agreement  of  the  contracting  parties,  with 
out  in  any  way  impairing  the  contract  of  association. 

The  sovereign  power  is  usually  formed  by  the  union  of 
separate  individuals,  who  compose  a  people ;  and  individual 
powers  or  collective  forces,  each  representing  a  very  small 
portion  of  the  sovereign  authority,  are  the  sole  elements  which 
are  subjected  to  the  general  government  of  their  choice.  In 
this  case  the  general  government  is  more  naturally  called 
upon  to  regulate,  not  only  those  affairs  which  are  of  essen 
tial  national  importance,  but  those  which  are  of  a  more  local 
interest ;  and  the  local  governments  are  reduced  to  that  small 


388  DURATION    O  '   THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

share  of  sovereign  authority  which  is  indispensable  to  their 
prosperity. 

But  sometimes  the  sovereign  authority  is  composed  of  p  re 
organized  political  bodies,  by  virtue  of  circumstances  anterior 
to  their  union ;  and^in  this  case  the  provincial  governments 
assume  the  control,  not  only  of  those  affairs  which  more  pecu 
liarly  belong  to  their  province,  but  of  all,  or  of  a  part  of  the 
mixed  affairs  to  which  allusion  has  been  made.  For  the  con 
federate  nations  which  were  independent  sovereign  states  be 
fore  their  Union,  and  which  still  represent  a  very  considerable 
share  of  the  sovereign  power,  have  only  consented  to  cede  to 
the  general  government  the  exercise  of  those  rights  which  are 
indispensable  to  the  Union. 

When  the  national  government,  independently  of  the  pre 
rogative  inherent  in  its  nature,  is  invested  with  the  right  of  re 
gulating  the  affairs  which  relate  partly  to  the  general  and  partly 
to  the  local  interest,  it  possesses  a  preponderating  influence. 
Not  only  are  its  own  rights  extensive,  but  all  the  rights  which 
it  does  not  possess  exist  by  its  sufferance,  and  it  may  be  ap 
prehended  that  the  provincial  governments  may  be  deprived 
of  their  natural  and  necessary  prerogatives  by  its  influence. 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  the  provincial  governments  are 
invested  with  the  power  of  regulating  those  same  affairs  of 
mixed  interest,  an  opposite  tendency  prevails  in  society.  The 
preponderating  force  resides  in  the  province,  not  in  the  nation  ; 
and  it  may  be  apprehended  that  the  national  government  may 
in  the  end  be  stripped  of  the  privileges  which  are  necessary 
to  its  existence. 

Independent  nations  have  therefore  a  natural  tendency  to 
centralization,  and  confederations  to  dismembermentN, 

It  now  only  remains  for  us  to  apply  these  general  principles 
to  the  American  Union.  The  several  states  were  necessarily 
possessed  of  the  right  of  regulating  all  exclusively  provincial 
affairs.  Moreover  these  same  states  retained  the  right  of  de 
termining  the  civil  and  political  competency  of  the  citizens, 
of  regulating  the  reciprocal  relations  of  the  members  of  the 
community,  and  of  dispensing  justice ;  rights  which  are  of  a 
general  nature,  but  which  do  not  necessarily  appertain  to  the 
national  government.  •'  We  have  shown  that  the  government 
of  the  Union  is  invested  with  the  power  of  acting  in  the  name 
of  the  whole  nation,  in  those  cases  in  which  the  nation  has  to 
appear  as  a  single  and  undivided  power ;  as,  for  instance,  in 
foreign  relations,  and  in  offering  a  common  resistance  to  a 
common  enemy  ;  in  short,  in  conducting  those  affairs  which  I 
have  styled  exclusively  national. 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.         389 

In  this  division  of  the  rights  of  sovereignty,  the  share  of 
the  Union  seems  at  first  sight  to  be  more  considerable  than 
that  of  the  states  ;  but  a  more  attentive  investigation  shows  it 
to  be  less  so.  The  undertakings  of  the  government  of  the 
Union  are  more  vast,  but  their  influence  is  more  rarely  felt. 
Those  of  the  provincial  government  are  comparatively  small, 
but  they  are  incessant,  and  they  serve  to  keep  alive  the  au 
thority  which  they  represent.  The  government  of  the  Union 
watches  the  general  interests  of  the  country  ;  but  the  general 
interests  of  a  people  have  a  very  questionable  influence 
upon  individual  happiness  ;  while  provincial  interests  produce 
a  most  immediate  effect  upon  the  welfare  of  the  inhabitants. 
The  Union  secures  the  independence  and  the  greatness  of  the 
nation,  which  do  not  immediately  affect  private  citizens  ;  but 
the  several  states  maintain  the  liberty,  regulate  the  rights, 
protect  the  fortune,  and  secure  the  life  and  the  whole  future 
prosperity  of  every  citizen. 

The  federal  government  is  very  far  removed  from  its  sub 
jects,  while  the  provincial  governments  are  within  the  reach 
of  them  all,  and  are  ready  to  attend  to  the  smallest  appeal. 
The  central  government  has  upon  its  side  the  passions  of  a 
few  superior  men  who  aspire  to  conduct  it ;  but  upon  the  side 
of  the  provincial  governments  are  the  interests  of  all  those 
second-rate  individuals  who  can  only  hope  to  obtain  power 
within  their  own  state,  and  who  nevertheless  exercise  the 
largest  share  of  authority  over  the  people  because  they  are 
placed  nearest  to  its  level.  - 

-  The  Americans  have  therefore  much  more  to  hope  and  to 
fear  from  the  states  than  from  the  Union  ;  and,  in  conformity 
with  the  natural  tendency  of  the  human  mind,  they  are  more 
likely  to  attach  themselves  to  the  former  than  to  the  latter. 
In  this  respect  their  habits  and  feelings  harmonize  with  their 
interests. 

When  a  compact  nation  divides  its  sovereignty,  and  adopts 
a  confederate  form  of  government,  the  traditions,  the  customs, 
and  the  manners  of  the  people  are  for  a  long  time  at  variance 
with  their  legislation ;  and  the  former  tend  to  give  a  degree 
of  influence  to  the  central  government  which  the  latter  forbids. 
When  a  number  of  confederate  states  unite  to  form  a  single 
nation,  the  same  causes  operate  in  an  opposite  direction/  I 
have  no  doubt  that  if  France  were  to  become  a  confederate 
republic  like  that  of  the  United  States,  the  government  would 
at  first  display  more  energy  than  that  of  the  Union ;  and  if 
the  Union  were  to  alter  its  constitution  to  a  monarchy  like  that 
of  France,  I  think  that  the  American  government  would  be  a 


390  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

long  time  in  acquiring  the  force  which  now  rules  the  latter 
nation.  When  the  national  existence  of  the  Anglo-Americans 
began,  their  provincial  existence  was  already  of  long  standing ; 
necessary  relations  were  established  between  the  townships 
and  the  individual  citizens  of  the  same  states  ;  and  they  were 
accustomed  to  consider  some  objects  as  common  to  them  all, 
and  to  conduct  other  affairs  as  exclusively  relating  to  their 
own  special  interests. 

The  Union  is  a  vast  body,  which  presents  no  definite  object 
to  patriotic  feeling.  The  forms  and  limits  of  the  state  are 
distinct  and  circumscribed  ;  since  it  represents  a  certain  num 
ber  of  objects  which  are  familiar  to  the  citizens  and  beloved 
by  all.  It  is  identified  with  the  very  soil,  with  the  right  of 
property  and  the  domestic  affections,  with  the  recollections  of 
the  past,  the  labors  of  the  present,  and  the  hopes  of  the  future. 
Patriotism,  then,  which  is  frequently  a  mere  extension  of  indi 
vidual  egotism,  is  still  directed  to  the  state,  and  is  not  excited 
by  the  Union.  Thus  the  tendency  of  the  interests,  the  habits, 
and  the  feelings  of  the  people,  is  to  centre  political  activity  in 
the  states,  in  preference  to  the  Union. 

It  is  easy  to  estimate  the  different  forces  of  the  two  govern 
ments,  by  remarking  the  manner  in  which  they  fulfil  their 
respective  functions.  Whenever  the  government  of  a  state 
has  occasion  to  address  an  individual,  or  an  assembly  of  indi 
viduals,  its  language  is  clear  and  imperative  ;  and  such  is  also 
the  tone  of  the  federal  government  in  its  intercourse  with  in 
dividuals;  but  no  sooner  has  it  anything  to  do  with  a  state, 
than  it  begins  to  parley,  to  explain  its  motives,  and  to  justify 
its  conduct,  to  argue,  to  advise,  and  in  short,  anything  but  to 
command.  If  doubts  are  raised  as  to  the  limits  of  the  con 
stitutional  powers  of  each  government,  the  provincial  govern 
ment  prefers  its  claims  with  boldness,  and  takes  prompt  and 
energetic  steps  to  support  it.  In  the  meanwhile  the  govern 
ment  of  the  Union  reasons,  it  appeals  to  the  interests,  to  the 
good  sense,  to  the  glory  of  the  nation;  it  temporizes,  it 
negotiates,  and  does  not  consent  to  act  until  it  is  reduced  to 
the  last  extremity.  At  first  sight  it  might  readily  be  imagined 
that  it  is  the  provincial  government  which  is  armed  with  the  au 
thority  of  the  nation,  and  that  congress  represents  a  single  state. 

The  federal  government  is,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the 
precautions  of  those  who  founded  it,  naturally  so  weak,  that  it 
more  peculiarly  requires  the  free  consent  of  the  governed  to 
enable  it  to  subsist.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  its  object  is  to 
enable  the  states  to  realize  with  facility  their  determination  of 
remaining  united  ;  and,  as  long  as  this  preliminary  considera- 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          391 

tion  exists,  its  authority  is  great,  temperate,  and  effective.  The 
constitution  fits  the  government  to  control  individuals,  and 
easily  to  surmount  such  obstacles  as  they  may  be  inclined  to 
offer,  but  it  was  by  no  means  established  with  a  view  to  the 
possible  separation  of  one  or  more  of  the  states  from  the  Union. 

If  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union  were  to  engage  in  a  struggle 
with  that  of  the  states  at  the  present  day,  its  defeat  may  be 
confidently  predicted  ;  and  it  is  not  probable  that  such  a  strug 
gle  would  be  seriously  undertaken.  As  often  as  steady  re 
sistance  is  offered  to  the  federal  government,  it  will  be  found 
to  yield.  Experience  has  hitherto  shown  that  whenever  a 
state  has  demanded  anything  with  perseverance  and  resolu 
tion,  it  has  invariably  succeeded  ;  and  that  if  a  separate  go 
vernment  has  distinctly  refused  to  act,  it  was  left  to  do  as  it 
thought  fit.* 

But  even  if  the  government  of  the  Union  had  any  strength 
inherent  in  itself,  the  physical  situation  of  the  country  would 
render  the  exercise  of  that  strength  very  difficult. f  The 
United  States  cover  an  immense  territory  ;  they  are  separated 
from  each  other  by  great  distances  ;  and  the  population  is  dis 
seminated  over  the  surface  of  a  country  which  is  still  half  a 
wilderness.  .  If  the  Union  were  to  undertake  to  enforce  the 
allegiance  of  the  confederate  states  by  military  means,  it 
would  be  in  a  position  very  analogous  to  that  of  England  at 
the  time  of  the  war  of  independence. 

However  strong  a  government  may  be,  it  cannot  easily 
escape  from  the  consequences  of  a  principle  which  it  has 
once  admitted  as  the  foundation  of  its  constitution.  The 
Union  was  formed  by  the  voluntary  agreement  of  the  states ; 
and,  in  uniting  together,  they  have  not  forfeited  their  nation 
ality,  nor  have  they  been  reduced  to  the  condition  of  one  and 
the  same  people.  If  one  of  the  states  chose  to  withdraw  its 
name  from  the  compact,  it  would  be  difficult  to  disprove  its 
right  of  doing  so ;  and  the  federal  government  would  have  no 
means  of  maintaining  its  claims  directly,  either  by  force  or 
by  right.  In  order  to  enable  the  federal  government  easily 
to  conquer  the  resistance  which  may  be  offered  to  it  by  any 
one  of  its  subjects,  it  would  be  necessary  that  one  or  more  of 

*  See  the  conduct  of  the  northern  states  in  the  war  of  1812.  "  Du 
ring  that  war,"  said  Jefferson,  in  a  letter  to  General  Lafayette,  "  four 
of  the  eastern  states  were  only  attached  to  the  Union,  like  so  many 
inanimate  bodies  to  living  men." 

t  The  profound  peace  of  the  Union  affords  no  pretext  for  a  standing 
army ;  and  without  a  standing  army  a  government  is  not  prepared  to 
profit  by  a  favorable  opportunity  to  conquer  resistance,  and  take  the 
sovereign  power  by  surprise 


f 


392  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

them  should  be  especially  interested  in  the  existence  of  the 
Union,  as  has  frequently  been  the  case  in  the  history  of  con 
federations. 

If  it  be  supposed  that  among  the  states  which  are  united 
by  the  federal  tie,  there  are  some  which  exclusively  enjoy 
the  principal  advantages  of  union,  or  whose  prosperity  de 
pends  on  the  duration  of  that  union,  it  is  unquestionable  that 
they  will  always  be  ready  to  support  the  central  government 
in  enforcing  the  obedience  of  the  others.  But  the  govern 
ment  would  then  be  exerting  a  force  not  derived  from  itself, 
but  from  a  principle  contrary  to  its  nature.  States  form  con 
federations  in  order  to  derive  equal  advantages  from  their 
union ;  and  in  the  case  just  alluded  to,  the  federal  govern- 
ment  would  derive  its  power  from  the  unequal  distribution 
of  those  benefits  among  the  states. 

If  one  of  the  confederated  states  have  acquired  a  prepon 
derance  sufficiently  great  to  enable  it  to  take  exclusive  pos 
session  of  the  central  authority,  it  will  consider  the  other 
states  as  subject  provinces,  and  will  cause  its  own  supremacy 
to  be  respected  under  the  borrowed  name  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  Union.,';-  Great  things  may  then  be  done  in  the  name 
of  the  federal  government,  but  in  reality  that  government 
will  have  ceased  to  exist.*  In  both  these  cases,  the  power 
which  acts  in  the  name  of  the  confederation  becomes  stronger, 
the  more  it  abandons  the  natural  state  and  the  acknowledged 
principles  of  confederations. 

<^  In  America  the  existing  Union  is  advantageous  to  all  the 
states,  but  it  is  not  indispensable  to  any  one  of  them.  Several 
of  them  might  break  the  federal  tie  without  compromising  the 
welfare  of  the  others,  although  their  own  prosperity  would  be 
lessened.  _  As  the  existence  and  the  happiness  of  none  of  the 
states  are  wholly  dependent  on  the  present  constitution,  they 
would  none  of  them  be  disposed  to  make  great  personal  sac 
rifices  to  maintain  it.  On  the  other  hand, ,' there  is  no  state 
which  seems,  hitherto,  to  have  its  ambition  much  interested 
in  the  maintenance  of  the  existing  Union.  They  certainly 
do  not  all  exercise  the  same  influence  in  the  federal  councils, 
but  no  one  of  them  can  hope  to  domineer  over  the  rest,  or  to 
treat  them  as  its  inferiors  or  as  its  subjects. 

,  It  appears  to  me  unquestionable,  that  if  any  portion  of  the 
Union  seriously  desired  to  separate  itself  from  the  other  states, 

*  Thus  the  province  of  Holland  in  the  republic  of  the  Low  Countries, 
and  the  emperor  in  the  Germanic  Confederation,  have  sometimes  put 
themselves  in  the  place  of  the  Union,  and  have  employed  the  fedeial 
authority  to  their  own  advantage. 


IT 

AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          393 

they  would  not  be  able,  nor  indeed  would  they  attempt,  to 
prevent  it ;  and  that  the  present  Union  will  only  last  as 
long  as  the  states  which  compose  it  choose  to  continue  mem 
bers  of  the  confederation.  If  this  point  be  admitted,  the  ques 
tion  becomes  less  difficult ;  and  our  object  is  not  to  inquire 
whether  the  states  of  the  existing  Union  are  capable  of  sepa 
rating,  but  whether  they  will  choose  to  remain  united. 

[The  remarks  respecting  the  inability  of  the  federal  government  to 
retain  within  the  Union  any  state  that  may  choose  "  to  withdraw  its 
name  from  the  contract,"  ought  not  to  pass  through  an  American  edi 
tion  of  this  work,  without  the  expression  of  a  dissent  by  the  editor 
from  the  opinion  of  the  author.  The  laws  of  the  United  States  must 
remain  in  force  in  a  revolted  state,  until  repealed  by  congress ;  the 
customs  and  postages  must  be  collected ;  the  courts  of  the  United 
States  must  sit,  and  must  decide  the  causes  submitted  to  them  ;  as  has 
been  very  happily  explained  by  the  author,  the  courts  act  upon  indi 
viduals.  If  their  judgments  are  resisted,  the  executive  arm'  must  in 
terpose,  and  if  the  state  authorities  aid  in  the  resistance,  the  military 
power  of  the  whole  Union  must  be  invoked  to  overcome  it.  So  long 
as  the  laws  affecting  the  citizens  of  such  a  state  remain,  and  so  long 
as  there  remain  any  officers  of  a  general  government  to  enforce  them, 
these  results  must  follow  not  only  theoretically  but  actually.  The 
author  probably  formed  the  opinions  which  are  the  subject  of  these 
remarks,  at  the  commencement  of  the  controversy  with  South  Carolina 
respecting  the  tariff  And  when  they  were  written  and  published, 
he  had  not  learned  the  result  of  that  controversy,  in  which  the  supre 
macy  of  the  Union  and  its  laws  was  triumphant.  There  was  doubt 
less  great  reluctance  in  adopting  the  necessary  measures  to  collect  the 
customs,  and  to  bring  every  legal  question  that  could  possibly  arise  out 
of  the  controversy,  before  the  judiciary  of  the  United  States,  but  they 
were  finally  adopted,  and  were  not  the  less  successful  for  being  the  re 
sult  of  deliberation  and  of  necessity.  Out  of  that  controversy  have 
arisen  some  advantages  of  a  permanent  character,  produced  by  the  le 
gislation  which  it  required.  There  were  defects  in  the  laws  regulating 
the  manner  of  bringing  from  the  state  courts  into  those  of  the  United 
States,  a  cause  involving  the  constitutionality  of  acts  of  congress 
3r  of  the  states,  through  which  the  federal  authority  might  be 
evaded.  Those  defects  were  remedied  by  the  legislation  referred  to  ; 
ind  it  is  now  more  emphatically  and  universally  true,  than  when  the 
mthor  wrote,  that  the  acts  of  the  general  government  operate  through 
the  judiciary,  upon  individual  citizens,  and  not  upon  the  states.— 
American  Editor."] 

(  Among  the  various  reasons  which  tend  to  render  the  exist 
ing  Union  useful  to  the  Americans,  two  principal  causes  are 
peculiarly  evident  to  the  observer.  Although  the  Americans 
are,  as  it  were,  alone  upon  their  continent,  their  commerce 
makes  them  the  neighbors  of  all  the  nations  with  which  they 
trade.  Notwithstanding  their  apparent  isolation,  the  Ameri 
cans  require  a  certain  degree  of  strength,  which  they  cannot 


394  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

retain  otherwise  than  by  remaining  united  to  each  other.  If 
the  states  were  to  split,  they  would  not  only  diminish  the 
strength  which  they  are  now  able  to  display  toward  foreign 
nations,  but  they  would  soon  create  foreign  powers  upon  their 
own  territory.  A  system  of  inland  custom-houses  would  then 
be  established  ;  the  valleys  would  be  divided  by  imaginary 
boundary  lines  ;  the  courses  of  the  rivers  would  be  confined 
by  territorial  distinctions ;  and  a  multitude  of  hindrances 
would  prevent  the  Americans  from  exploring  the  whole  of 
that  vast  continent  which  Providence  has  allotted  to  them  for 
a  dominion.  ' At  present  they  have  no  invasion  to  fear,  and 
consequently  no  standing  armies  to  maintain,  no  taxes  to  levy. 
If  the  Union  were  dissolved,  all  these  burdensome  measures 
might  ere  long  he  required.  The  Americans  are  then  very 
powerfully  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  their  Union.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  discover  any  sort  of 
material  interest  which  might  at  present  tempt  a  portion  of 
the  Union  to  separate  from  the  other  states^  - 

When  we  cast  our  eyes  upon  the  map  of  the  United  States, 
we  perceive  the  chain  of  the  Allegany  mountains,  running 
from  the  northeast  to  the  southwest,  and  crossing  nearly  one 
thousand  miles  of  country ;  and  we  are  led  to  imagine  that 
the  design  of  Providence  was  to  raise,  between  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi  and  the  coasts  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  one  of  those 
natural  barriers  which  break  the  mutual  intercourse  of  men, 
and  form  the  necessary  limits  of  different  states.  But  the 
average  height  of  the  Alleganies  does  not  exceed  2,500  feet ; 
their  greatest  elevation  is  not  above  4,000  feet ;  their  rounded 
summits,  and  the  spacious  valleys  which  they  conceal  within 
their  passes,  are  of  easy  access  from  several  sides.  Beside 
which,  the  principal  rivers  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic  ocean, 
the  Hudson,  the  Susquehannah,  and  the  Potomac,  take  their 
rise  beyond  the  Alleganies,  in  an  open  district,  which  bor 
ders  upon  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  These  streams  quit 
this  tract  of  country,*  make  their  way  through  the  barrier 
which  would  seem  to  turn  them  westward,  and  as  they  wind 
through  the  mountains,  they  open  an  easy  and  natural  pas 
sage  to  man. 

<  No  natural  barrier  exists  in  the  regions  which  are  now  in 
habited  by  the  Anglo-Americans ;)  the  Alleganies  are  so 
far  from  serving  as  a  boundary  to  separate  nations,  that  they 
do  not  even  serve  as  a  frontier  to  the  states.  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia,  comprise  them  within  their  bor- 

*  See  Darby's  View  of  the  United  States,  pp   64,  79. 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          395 

ders,  and  extend  as  much  to  the  west  as  to  the  east  of  the 
line. 

The  territory  now  occupied  by  the  twenty-four  states  of 
the  Union,  and  the  three  great  districts  which  have  not  yet 
acquired  the  rank  of  states,  although  they  already  contain 
inhabitants,  covers  a  surface  of  1,002,600  square  miles,* 
which  is  about  equal  to  five  times  the  extent  of  France. 
Within  these  limits  the  qualities  of  the  soil,  the  temperature, 
arid  the  produce  of  the  country,  are  extremely  various.  The 
vast  extent  of  territory  occupied  by  the  Anglo-American  re 
publics  has  given  rise  to  doubts  as  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union.  Here  a  distinction  must  be  made ;  contrary  inter 
ests  sometimes  arise  in  the  different  provinces  of  a  vast  em 
pire,  which  often  terminate  in  open  dissensions ;  and  the 
extent  of  the  country  is  then  most  prejudicial  to  the  power  of 
the  state.  But  if  the  inhabitants  of  these  vast  regions  are 
not  divided  by  contrary  interests,  the  extent  of  the  territory 
may  be  favorable  to  their  prosperity  ;  for  the  unity  of  the 
government  promotes  the  interchange  of  the  different  produc 
tions  of  the  soil,  and  increases  their  value  by  facilitating  their 
consumption. 

It  is  indeed  easy  to  discover  different  interests  in  the  differ 
ent  parts  of  the  Union,  but  I  am  unacquainted  with  any 
which  are  hostile  to  each  other.  The  southern  states  are  al 
most  exclusively  agricultural  :  the  northern  states  are  more 
peculiarly  commercial  and  manufacturing  :  the  states  of  the 
west  are  at  the  same  time  agricultural  and  manufacturing. 
In  the  south  the  crops  consist  of  tobacco,  of  rice,  of  cotton, 
and  of  sugar  ;  in  the  north  and  the  west,  of  wheat  and  maize  : 
these  are  different  sources  of  wealth  ;  but  union  is  the  means 
by  which  these  sources  are  opened  to  all,  and  rendered 
equally  advantageous  to  the  several  districts. 

The  north,  which  ships  the  produce  of  the  Anglo-Americans 
to  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  brings  back  the  produce  of  the 
globe  to  the  Union,  is  evidently  interested  in  maintaining  the 
confederation  in  its  present  condition,  in  order  that  the  num- 

*  See  Darby's  View  of  the  United  States,  p.  435.  [In  Carey  &  Lea's 
Geography  of  America,  the  United  States  are  said  to  form  an  area  of 
2,076,400  square  miles.—  Translator's  Note.] 

[The  discrepance  between  Darby's  estimate  of  the  area  of  the  United 
States  given  by  the  author,  and  that  stated  by  the  translator,  is  not 
easily  accounted  for.  In  Bradford's  comprehensive  Atlas,  a  work 
generally  of  great  accuracy,  it  is  said  that  "  as  claimed  by  this  country, 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  extends  from  25°  to  54°  north  lati 
tude,  and  from  67°  49'  to  12o°  west  longitude,  over  an  area  of  about 
2,200,000  square  miles." — American  Editor.} 


396  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

her  of  American  producers  and  consumers  may  remain  as 
large  as  possible.  The  north  is  the  most  natural  agent  of 
communication  between  the  south  and  the  west  of  the  Union 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  rest  of  the  world  upon  the  other  ; 
the  north  is  therefore  interested  in  the  union  and  prosperity  of 
the  south  and  the  west,  in  order  that  they  may  continue  to 
furnish  raw  materials  for  its  manufactures,  and  cargoes  for 
its  shipping.  ^ 

"The  south  and  the  west,  on  their  side,  are  still  more  directly 
interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and  the  prosperity 
of  the  north.  The  produce  of  the  south  is  for  the  most  part 
exported  beyond  seas ;  the  south  and  the  west  consequently 
stand  in  need  of  the  commercial  resources  of  the  north. 
They  are  likewise  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  a  power 
ful  fleet  by  the  Union,  to  protect  them  efficaciously.  >  The 
south  and  the  west  have  no  vessels,  but  they  cannot  refuse  a 
willing  subsidy  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  navy ;  for  if 
the  fleets  of  Europe  were  to  blockade  the  ports  of  the  south 
and  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi,  what  would  become  of  the 
rice  of  the  Carolinas,  the  tobacco  of  Virginia,  and  the  sugar 
and  cotton  which  grow  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  ? 
Every  portion  of  the  federal  budget  does  therefore  contribute 
to  the  maintenance  of  material  interests  which  are  common 
to  all  the  confederate  states. 

Independently  of  this  commercial  utility,  the  south  and  the 
west  of  the  Union  derive  great  political  advantages  from  their 
connexion  with  the  north.  The  south  contains  an  enormous 
slave  population  j^a  population  which  is  already  alarming, 
and  still  more  formidable  for  the  future.  The  states  of  the 
west  lie  in  the  remoter  part  of  a  single  valley ;  and  all  the 
rivers  which  intersect  their  territory  rise  in  the  Rocky  moun 
tains  or  in  the  Alleganies,  and  fall  into  the  Mississippi,  which 
bears  them  onward  to  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  The  western 
states  are  consequently  entirely  cut  off,  by  their  position,  from 
the  traditions  of  Europe  and  the  civilisation  of  the  Old  World. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  south,  then,  are  induced  to  support  the 
Union  in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  its  protection  against, 
the  blacks ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  west,  in  order  not  to 
be  excluded  from  a  free  communication  with  the  rest  of  the 
globe,  and  shut  up  in  the  wilds  of  central  America.  The 
north  cannot  but  desire  the  maintenance  of  the  Union,  in 
order  to  remain,  as  it  now  is,  the  connecting  link  between  that 
vast  body  and  the  other  parts  of  the  world. 

The  temporal  interests  of  all  the  several  parts  of  the  Union 
are,  then,  intimately  connected ;  and  the  same  assertion  holds 


AND    WHAT    DANGERS    THREATEN    IT.  397 

true  lespecting  those  opinions  and  sentiments  which  may  oe 
termed  the  immaterial  interests  of  men. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  talk  a  great  deal  of 
their  attachment  to  their  country  ;  but  I  confess  that  I  do  not 
rely  upon  that  calculating  patriotism  which  is  founded  upon 
interest,  and  which  a  change  in  the  interest  at  stake  may  ob 
literate.  Nor  do  I  attach  much  importance  to  the  language 
of  the  Americans,  when  they  manifest  in  their  daily  conver 
sation,  the  intention  of  maintaining  the  federal  system  adopted 
by  their  forefathers.  A  government  retains  its  sway  over  a 
great  number  of  citizens,  far  less  by  the  voluntary  and  rational 
consent  of  the  multitude,  than  by  that  instinctive  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  involuntary  agreement,  which  results  from 
similarity  of  feelings  and  resemblances  of  opinion.  I  will 
never  admit  that  men  constitute  a  social  body,  simply  because 
they  obey  the  same  head  and  the  same  laws.  Society  can 
only  exist  when  a  great  number  of  men  consider  a  great 
number  of  things  in  the  same  point  of  view  ;  when  they  hold 
the  same  opinions  upon  many  subjects,  and  when  the  same 
occurrences  suggest  the  same  thoughts  and  impressions  to 
their  minds. 

The  observer  who  examines  the  present  condition  of  the 
United  States  upon  this  principle,  will  readily  discover,  that 
although  the  citizens  are  divided  into  twenty-four  distinct 
sovereignties,  they  nevertheless  constitute  a  single  people  ;  and 
he  may  perhaps  be  led  to  think  that  the  state  of  the  Anglo- 
American  Union  is  more  truly  a  state  of  society,  than  that  of 
certain  nations  of  Europe  which  live  under  the  same  legisla 
tion  and  the  same  prince. 

Although  the  Anglo-Americans  have  several  religious  sects, 
they  all  regard  religion  in  the  same  manner.  They  are  not 
always  agreed  upon  the  measures  which  are  most  conducive 
to  good  government,  and  they  vary  upon  some  of  the  forms  of 
government  which  it  is  expedient  to  adopt ;  but  they  are  una 
nimous  upon  the  general  principles  which  ought  to  rule  hu 
man  society.  From  Maine  to  the  Floridas,  and  from  Missouri  to 
the  Atlantic  ocean,  the  people  is  held  to  be  the  legitimate 
source  of  all  power.  The  same  notions  are  entertained 
respecting  liberty  and  equality,  the  liberty  of  the  press,  the 
right  of  association,  the  jury,  and  the  responsibility  of  the 
agents  of  government. 

If  we  turn  from  their  political  and  religious  opinions  to  the 
moral  and  philosophical  principles  which  regulate  the  daily 
actions  of  life,  and  govern  their  conduct,  we  shall  still  find 


398  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

the  same,  uniformity.  The  Anglo-Americans*  acknowledge 
the  absolute  moral  authority  of  the  reason  of  the  communi 
ty,  as  they  acknowledge  the  political  authority  of  the  mass 
of  citizens ;  and  they  hold  that  public  opinion  is  the  surest 
arbiter  of  what  is  lawful  or  forbidden,  true  or  false.  The 
majority  of  them  believe  that  a  man  will  be  led  to  do  whav 
is  just  and  good  by  following  his  own  interests,  rightly  under- 
stood.  They  hold  that  every  man  is  born  in  possession  of  the 
right  of  self-government,  and  that  no  one  has  the  right  of  con 
straining  his  fellow-creatures  to  be  happy.  They  have  all  a 
lively  faith  in  the  perfectibility  of  man  ;  they  are  of  opinion 
that  the  effects  of  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  must  necessarily 
be  advantageous,  and  the  consequences  of  ignorance  fatal  ; 
they  all  consider  society  as  a  body  in  a  state  of  improvement, 
humanity  as  a  changing  scene,  in  which  nothing  is,  or  ought 
to  be,  permanent ;  and  they  admit  that  what  appears  to  them 
to  be  good  to-day  may  be  superseded  by  something  better  to 
morrow.  /  I  do  not  give  all  these  opinions  as  true,  but  I  quote 
them  as  characteristic  of  the  Americans. 
\  The  Anglo-Americans  are  not  only  united  together  by  those 
common  opinions,  but  they  are  separated  from  all  other  na 
tions  by  a  common  feeling  of  pride. ^  For  the  last  fifty  years, 
no  pains  have  been  spared  to  convince  the  inhabitants  of  the 
United  States  that  they  constitute  the  only  religious,  enlight 
ened,  and  free  people.  "\  They  perceive  that,  for  the  present, 
their  own  democratic  institutions  succeed,  while  those  of  other 
countries  fail ;  hence  they  conceive  an  overweening  opinion 
of  their  superiority,  and  they  are  not  very  remote  from 
believing  themselves  to  belong  to  a  distinct  race  of  man 
kind. 

The  dangers  which  threaten  the  American  Union  do  not 
originate  in  the  diversity  of  interests  or  opinions  ;  but  in  the 
various  characters  and  passions  of  the  Americans./  The  men 
who  inhabit  the  vast  territory  of  the  United  States  are  almost 
all  the  issue  of  a  common  stock  ;\but  the  effects  of  the  cli 
mate,  and  more  especially  of  slavery,  have  gradually  intro 
duced  very  striking  differences  between  the  British  settler  of 
the  southern  states,  and  the  British  settler  of  the  north.  In 
Europe  it  is  generally  believed  that  slavery  has  rendered  the 
interests  of  one  part  of  the  Union  contrary  to  those  of  another 
part ;  but  I  by  no  means  remarked  this  to  be  the  case  ;  slave- 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  for  me  to  observe  that  by  the  expression 
Jin glo- Americans,  I  only  mean  to  designate  the  great  majority  of  the 
nation  ;  for  a  certain  number  of  isolated  individuals  are  of  course  to  be 
met  with  holding  very  different  opinions 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          399 

'    ry  has  not  created  interests  in  the  south  contrary  to  those  of 
X£    the  north,  but  it  has  modified  the  character  and  changed  the 
,s   habits  of  the  natives  of  the  south. 

I  have  already  explained  the  influence  which  slavery  has 
exerted  upon  the  commercial  ability  of  the  Americans  in  the 
and  this  same  influence  equally  extends  to  their  man- 
The  slave  is  a  servant  who  never  remonstrates,  and 
^^Vho  submits  to  everything  without  complaint.     He  may  some- 
\a    times  assassinate,  but  he  never  withstands,  his  master.       In 
f    (he  south  there  are  no  families  so  poor  as  not  to  have  slaves, 
^t     The  citizen  of  the  southern  states  of  the  Union  is  invested 
-o    with  a  sort  of  domestic  dictatorship  from  his  earliest  years ; 
^vfhe  first  notion  he  acquires  in  life  is,  that  he  is  born  to  com- 
\   mand,  and  the  first  habit  he  contracts  is  that  of  being  obeyed 
**  without,  resistance./*      His  education  tends,  then,  to  give  him 
j    i!he  character  of  a  supercilious  and  a  hasty  man  ;    irasci- 
-  <    6le,  violent,  and  ardent  in  his  desires,  impatient  of  obsta- 
v  cles,  but  easily  discouraged  if  he  cannot  succeed  upon  his 
O '  first  attempt. 

The  American  of  the  northern  states  is  surrounded  by  no 
slaves  in  his  childhood  ;  he  is  even  unattended  by  free  ser 
vants  ;  and  is  usually  obliged  to  provide  for  his  own  wants. 
No  sooner  does  he  enter  the  world  than  the  idea  of  necessity 
assails  him  on  every  side  ;  he  soon  learns  to  know  exactly 
the  natural  limits  of  his  authority  ;  he  never  expects  to  sub 
due  those  who  withstand  him,  by  force  ;  and  he  knows  that 
the  surest  means  of  obtaining  the  support  of  his  fellow-crea 
tures,  is  to  win  their  favor.  He  therefore  becomes  patient, 
reflecting,  tolerant,  slow  to  act,  and  persevering  in  his 
designs. 

In  the  southern  states  the  more  immediate  wants  of  life  are 
always  supplied  ;  the  inhabitants  of  those  parts  are  not  busied 
in  the  material  cares  of  life,  which  are  always  provided  for 
by  others  ;  and  their  imagination  is  diverted  to  more  captivat 
ing  and  less  definite  objects  The  American  of  the  south  is 
fond  of  grandeur,  luxury,  and  renown,  of  gaiety,  of  plea 
sure,  and  above  all,  of  idleness  ;  nothing  obliges  him  to  exert 
nimself  in  order  to  subsist ;  and  as  he  has  no  necessary  oc 
cupations,  he  gives  way  to  indolence,  and  does  not  even 
attempt  what  would  be  useful. 

But  the  equality  of  fortunes,  and  the  absence  of  slavery  in 
the  north,  plunge  the  inhabitants  in  those  same  cares  of  daily 
life  which  are  disdained  by  the  white  population  of  the  south. 
They  are  taught  from  infancy  to  combat  want,  and  to  place 
comfort  above  all  the  pleasures  of  the  intellect  or  the  heart. 


400  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

The  imagination  is  extinguished  by  the  trivial  details  of  life  ; 
and  the  ideas  become  less  numerous  and  less  general,  but  far 
more  practical  and  more  precise.  As  prosperity  is  the  sole 
aim  of  exertion,  ,it  is  excellently  well  attained  j  nature  and 
mankind  are  turned  to  the  best  'pecuniary  advantage ;  and 
society  is  dexterously  made  to  contribute  to  the  welfare  of 
each  of  its  members,  while  individual  egotism  is  the  source 
of  general  happiness'^ 

The  citizen  of  the  'north  has  not  only  experience,  but  know 
ledge  :  nevertheless,  he  sets  but  little  value  upon  the  plea 
sures  of  knowledge  ;  he  esteems  it  as  the  means  of  obtaining 
a  certain  end,  and  he  is  only  anxious  to  seize  its  more  lucra 
tive  applications.  The  citizen  of  the  south  is  more  given  to 
act  upon  impulse  ;  Tie  is  more  clever,  more  frank,  more  gene 
rous,  more  intellectual,  and  more  brilliant.  The  former, 
with  a  greater  degree  of  activity,  of  common  sense,  of  infor 
mation,  and  of  general  aptitude,  has'  the  characteristic  good 
and  evil  qualities  of  the  middle  classes.  The  latter  has  the 
tastes,  the  prejudices,  the  weaknesses,  and  the  magnanimity 
of  all  aristocracies. 

If  two  men  are  united  in  society,  who  have  the  same  inte 
rests,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the  same  opinions,  but  different 
characters,  different  acquirements,  and  a  different  style  of 
civilisation,  it  is  probable  that  these  men  will  not  agree.  The 
same  remark  is  applicable  to  a  society  of  nations. 
\Slavery  then  does  not  attack  the  American  Union  directly 
in  its  interests,  but  indirectly  in  its  manners. 

The  states  which  gave  their  assent  to  the  federal  contract 
in  1790  were  thirteen  in  number  ;  the  Union  now  consists  of 
twenty-four  members.  The  population  which  amounted  to 
nearly  four  millions  in  1790,  had  more  than  tripled  in  the 
space  of  forty  years ;  and  in  1830  it  amounted  to  nearly 
thirteen  millions.*  Changes  of  such  magnitude  cannot  take 
place  without  some  danger. 

A  society  of  nations,  as  well  as  a  society  of  individuals, 
derive  its  principal  chances  of  duration  from  the  wisdom 
of  its  members,  their  individual  weakness,  and  their  limited 
number.  The  Americans  who  quit  the  coasts  of  the  Atlan 
tic  ocean  to  plunge  into  the  western  wilderness,  are  adven 
turers  impatient  of  restraint,  greedy  of  wealth,  and  frequently 
men  expelled  from  the  states  in  which  they  were  born. 
When  they  arrive  in  the  deserts,  they  are  unknown  to  each 

*  Census  of  1790 3,929,328. 

do  1830 12.856,165. 

[do.  1840 17,068,666.] 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          401 

other  ;  and  they  have  neither  traditions,  family  feeling,  nor 
the  force  of  example  to  check  their  excesses.  The  empire 
of  the  laws  is  feeble  among  them ;  that  of  morality  is  still 
more  powerless.  The  settlers  who  are  constantly  peopling 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  are,  then,  in  every  respect  infe 
rior  to  the  Americans  who  inhabit  the  older  parts  of  the  Union. 
Nevertheless,  they  already  exercise  a  great  influence  in  its 
councils  ;  and  they  arrive  at  the  government  of  the  common- 
wjealth  before  they  have  learned  to  govern  themselves.* 
\  The  greater  the  individual  weakness  of  each  of  the  con 
tracting  parties,  the  greater  are  the  chances  of  the  duration 
of  the  contract ;  for  their  safety  is  then  dependant  upon  their 
union.  When,  in  1790,  the  most  populous  of  the  American 
republics  did  not  contain  500,000  inhabitants, j"  each  of  them 
felt  its  own  insignificance  as  an  independent  people,  and  this 
feeling  rendered  compliance  with  the  federal  authority  more 
easy.  But  when  one  of  the  confederate  states  reckons,  like 
the  State  of  New  York,  two  millions  of  inhabitants,  and  cov 
ers  an  extent  of  territory  equal  in  surface  to  a  quarter  of 
France, J  it  feels  its  own  strength  ;  and  although  it  may  con 
tinue  to  support  the  Union  as  advantageous  to  its  prosperity, 
it  no  longer  regards  that  body  as  necessary  to  its  existence  ; 
and,  as  it  continues  to  belong  to  the  federal  compact,  it  soon 
aims  at  preponderance  in  the  federal  assemblies.  The  pro 
bable  unanimity  of  the  states  is  diminished  as  their  number 
increases.  At  present  the  interests  of  the  different  parts  of 
the  Union  are  not  at  variance ;  but  who  is  able  to  foresee  the 
multifarious  changes  of  the  future,  in  a  country  in  which 
towns  are  founded  from  day  to  day,  and  states  almost  from 
year  to  year  ? 

Since  the  first  settlement  of  the  British  colonies,  the  num 
ber  of  inhabitants  has  about  doubled  every  twenty-two  years. 
•  I  perceive  no  causes  which  are  likely  to  check  this  progres 
sive  increase  of  the  Anglo-American  population  for  the  next 
hundred  years ;  and  before  that  space  of  time  has  elapsed,  I 
believe  that  the  territories  and  dependencies  of  the  United 
States  will  be  covered  by  more  than  a  hundred  millions  of 
inhabitants,  and  divided  into  forty  states. §  -  I  admit  that  these 

*  This  indeed  is  only  a  temporary  danger.  I  have  no  doubt  that  in 
time  society  will  assume  as  much  stability  and  regularity  in  the  west, 
as  it  has  already  done  upon  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  ocean. 

t  Pennsylvania  contained  431,373  inhabitants  in  1790. 

j  The  area  of  the  state  of  New  York  is  about  46,000  square  miles. 
See  Carey  &  Lea's  American  Geography,  p.  142. 

§  If  the  population  continues  to  double  Qvery  twenty-two  years,  as  it 
has  done  for  the  last  two  hundred  years,  the  number  of  inhabitants  in 
26 


402  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

hundred  millions  of  men  have  no  hostile  interests  ;  I  suppose, 
on  the  contrary,  that  they  are  all  equally  interested  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  Union  ;  but  I  am  still  of  opinion,  that 
where  there  are  a  hundred  millions  of  men,  and  forty  distinct 
nations  unequally  strong,  the  continuance  of  the  federal  gov 
ernment  can  only  be  a  fortunate  accident. 

Whatever  faith  I  may  have  in  the  perfectibility  of  man, 
until  human  nature  is  altered,  and  men  wholly  transformed, 
I  shall  refuse  to  believe  in-  the  duration  of  a  government 
which  is  called  upon  to  hold  together  forty  different  peoples, 
disseminated  over  a  territory  equal  to  one-half  of  Europe  in 
extent ;  to  avoid  all  rivalry,  ambition,  and  struggles,  between 
them  ;  and  to  direct  their  independent  activity  to  the  accom 
plishment  of  the  same  designs. 

\But  the  greatest  peril  to  which  the  Union  is  exposed  by  its 
increase,  arises  from  the  continual  changes  which  take  place 
in  the  position  of  its  internal  strength^  The  distance  from 
Lake  Superior  to  the  gulf  of  Mexico  extends  from  the  47th 
to  the  30th  degree  of  latitude,  a  distance  of  more  than  twelve 
hundred  miles,  as  the  bird  flies.  The  frontier  of  the  United 
States  winds  along  the  whole  of  this  immense  line ;  some 
times  falling  within  its  limits,  but  more  frequently  extending 
far  beyond  it,  into  the  waste.  It  has  been  calculated  that  the 
whites  advance  a  mean  distance  of  seventeen  miles  along  the 
whole  of  this  vast  boundary.*  Obstacles,  such  as  an  unpro 
ductive  district,  a  lake,  or  an  Indian  nation  unexpectedly  en 
countered,  are  sometimes  met  with.  The  advancing  column 
then  halts  for  a  while  ;  its  two  extremities  fall  back  upon 
themselves,  and  as  soon  as  they  are  reunited  they  proceed 
onward.  This  gradual  and  continuous  progress  of  the  Euro 
pean  race  toward  the  Rocky  mountains,  has  the  solemnity  of 
a  providential  event ;  it  is  like  a  deluge  of  men  rising  una- 
batedly,  and  daily  driven  onward  by  the  hand  of  God. 

the  United  States  in  1852,  will  be  twenty  millions  :  in  1874,  forty- 
eight  millions ;  and  in  1896,  ninety-six  millions.  This  may  still  be 
the  case  even  if  the  lands  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Rocky  moun 
tains  should  "be  found  to  be  unfit  for  cultivation.  The  territory  which 
is  already  occupied  can  easily  contain  this  number  of  inhabitants. 
One  hundred  millions  of  men  disseminated  over  the  surface  of  the 
twenty-four  states,  and  the  three  dependencies,  which  constitute  the 
Union,  would  give  only  762  inhabitants  to  the  square  league  :  this  would 
be  far  below  the  mean  population  of  France,which  is  1,063  to  the  square 
league;  or  of  England,  which  is  1,457;  and  it  would  even  be  below 
the  population  of  Switzerland,  for  that  country,  notwithstanding  its 
lakes  and  mountains,  contains  783  inhabitants  to  the  square  league 
(See  Maltebrun,  vol.  vi.,  p.  92.) 

*  See  Legislative  Documents,  20th  congress,  No.  117,  p.  105. 


AND    WHAT    DANGERS    THREATEN    IT.  403 

Within  this  first  line  of  conquering  settlers,  towns  are 
built,  and  vast  states  founded.  In  1790  there  were  only  a 
few  thousand  pioneers  sprinkled  along  the  valleys  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  ;  and  at  the  present  day  these  valleys  contain  as 
many  inhabitants  as  were  to  be  found  in  the  whole  Union  in 
1790.  Their  population  amounts  to  nearly  four  millions.* 
The  city  of  Washington  was  founded  in  1800,  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  Union  ;  but  such  are  the  changes  which  have 
taken  place,  that  it  now  stands  at  one  of  the  extremities  ;  ano 
the  delegates  of  the  most  remote  western  states  are  already 
obliged  to  perform  a  journey  as  long  as  that  from  Vienna  to 
Paris.f 

All  the  states  are  borne  onward  at  the  same  time  in  the 
path  of  fortune,  but  of  course  they  do  not  all  increase  and 
prosper  in  the  same  proportion.  In  the  north  of  the  Union 
detached  branches  of  the  Allegany  chain,  extending  as  far  as 
the  Atlantic  ocean,  form  spacious  roads  and  ports,  which  are 
constantly  accessible  to  vessels  of  the  greatest  burden.  But 
from  the  Potomac  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  the  coast  is 
sandy  and  flat.  In  this  part  of  the  Union  the  mouths  of 
almost  all  the  rivers  are  obstructed  ;  and  the  few  harbors 
which  exist  among  these  lagunes,  afford  much  shallower  water 
to  vessels,  and  much  fewer  commercial  advantages  than 
those  of  the  north. 

This  first  natural  cause  of  inferiority  is  united  to  another 
cause  proceeding  from  the  laws.  We  have  already  seen  that 
slavery,  which  is  abolished  in  the  north,  still  exists  in  the 
south  ;  and  I  have  pointed  out  its  fatal  consequences  upon 
the  prosperity  of  the  .planter  himself. 

The  north  is  therefore  superior  to  the  south  both  in  com 
merce:):  and  manufacture  ;  the  natural  consequence  of  which 

*  3,672,317;  census  1830. 

f  The  distance  of  Jefferson,  the  capital  of  the  state  of  Missouri,  to 
Washington,  is  1,018  miles.  (American  Almanac,  1531,  p.  40.) 

|  The  following  statements  will  suffice  to  show  the  difference  which 
exists  between  the  commerce  of  the  south  and  that  of  the  north  : — 

In  1829,  the  tonnage  of  all  the  merchant-vessels  belonging  to 
Virginia,  the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia  (the  four  great  southern 
states),  amounted  to  only  5,243  tons.  In  the  same  year  the  tonnage  of 
the  vessels  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts  alone  amounted  to  17,322  tons. 
(See  Legislative  Documents,  21st  congress,  2d  session,  No.  140,  p.  244.) 
Thus  the  state  of  Massachusetts  has  three  times  as  much  ?hippin<r  as 
the  four  abovementioned  states.  Nevertheless  the  area  of  the  state  of 
Massachusetts  is  only  7,335  square  miles,  and  its  population  amounts 
to  610,014  inhabitants  ;  while  the  area  of  the  four  other  states  I  have 
quoted  is  210,000  square  miles,  and  their  population  3,047,767.  Thus 
the  area  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts  forms  only  one  thirtieth  part  of 


404  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

is  the  more  rapid  increase  of  population  and  of  wealth  with.  .1 
its  borders.  -  The  states  situate  upon  the  shores  of  the  Atlant.c 
ocean  are  already  half-peopled.  Most  of  the  land  is  held  by 
an  owner;  and  these  districts  cannot  therefore  receive  so 
many  emigrants  as  the  western  states,  where  a  boundless  field 
is  still  open  to  their  exertions.  The  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
is  far  more  fertile  than  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  ocean.  This 
reason,  added  to  all  the  others,  contributes  to  drive  the  Euro 
peans  westward — a  fact  which  may  be  rigorously  demonstrat 
ed  by  figures.  It  is  found  that  the  sum  total  of  the  popula 
tion  'of  all  the  United  States  has  about  tripled  in  the  course 
of  forty  years.  But  in  the  recent  states  adjacent  to  the 
Mississippi,  the  population  has  increased  thirty-one  fold  within 
the  same  space  of  time.* 

The  relative  position  of  the  central  federal  power  is  con 
tinually  displaced.  Forty  years  ago  the  majority  of  the 
citizens  of  the  Union  was  established  upon  the  coast  of  the 
Atlantic,  in  the  environs  of  the  spot  upon  which  Washington 
now  stands  ;  but  the  great  body  of  the  people  is  now  advan 
cing  inland  and  to  the  north,  so  that  in  twenty  years  the 
majority  will  unquestionably  be  on  the  westefn  side  of  the 
Alleganies.  If  the  Union  goes  on  to  subsist,  the  basin  of  the 
Mississippi  is  evidently  marked  out,  by  its  fertility  and  its 
extent,  as  the  future  centre  of  the  federal  government.  In 
thirty  or  forty  years,  that  tract  of  country  will  have  assumed 
the  rank  which  naturally  belongs  to  it.  It  is  easy  to  calcu 
late  that  its  population,  compared  to  that  of  the  coast  of  the 
Atlantic,  will  be,  in  round  numbers,  as  40  to  11.  In  a  few 
years  the  states  which  founded  the  Union  will  lose  the  direction 
of  its  policy,  and  the  population  of  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi 
will  preponderate  in  the  federal  assemblies. 

This  constant  gravitation  of  the  federal  power  and  influence 
toward  the*  northwest,  is  shown  every  ten  years,  when  a 
general  census  of  the  population  is  made,  and  the  number  of 

the  area  of  the  four  states ;  and  its  population  is  five  times  smaller 
than  theirs.  (See  Darby's  View  of  the  United  States.)  Slavery  is 
prejudicial  to  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the  south  in  several  different 
ways;  by  diminishing  the  spirit  of  enterprise  among  the  whites,  and 
by  preventing  them  from  meeting  with  as  numerous  a  class  of  sailors 
as  they  require.  Sailors  are  generally  taken  from  the  lowest  ranks  of 
the  population.  But  in  the  southern  states  these  lowest  ranks  are 
composed  of  slaves,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  employ  them  at  sea.  They 
are  unable  to  serve  as  well  as  a  white  crew,  and  apprehensions  would 
always  be  entertained  of  their  mutinying  in  the  middle  of  the  ocean, 
or  of  their  escaping  in  the  foreign  countries  at  which  they  might  touch 
*  Darby's  view  of  the  United  States,  p.  444 


AND   WHAT    DANGERS    THREATEN    IT.  405 

Delegates  which  each  state  sends  to  congress  is  settled  afresh.* 
[n  1790  Virginia  had  nineteen  representatives  in  congress. 
This  number  continued  to  increase  until  the  year  1813,  when 
l!.  reached  to  twenty-three  :  from  that  time  it  began  to  decrease, 
and  in  1833,  Virginia  elected  only  twenty -one  representa 
tives. f  During  the  same  period  the  state  of  New  York 
advanced  in  the  contrary  direction ;  in  1790,  it  had  ten 
representatives  in  congress  ;  in  1813,  twenty-seven  ;  in  1823, 
thirty-four  ;  and  in  1833,  forty.  The  state  of  Ohio  had  only 
one  representative  in  1803,  and  in  1833,  it  had  already  nine 
teen. 

It  is  difficulr  to  imagine  a  durable  union  of  a  people  which 
is  rich  and  strong,  with  one  which  is  poor  and  weak,  and  if 
it  were  proved  that  the  strength  and  wealth  of  the  one  are  not 
the  causes  of  the  weakness  and  poverty  of  the  other.  But 
union  is  still  more  difficult  to  maintain  at  a  time  at  which  one 
party  is  losing  strength,  and  the  other  is  gaining  it.  This 
rapid  and  disproportionate  increase  of  certain  states  threatens 

*  It  may  be  seen  *hat  in  the  course  of  the  last  ten  years  (1820-'30) 
the  population  «f  one  district,  as  for  instance,  the  state  of  Delaware, 
has  increased  in  the  proportion  of  5  per  cent.  ;  while  that  of  another, 
as  the  territory  of  Michigan,  has  increased  250  per  cent.  Thus  the 
population  of  Virginia  has  augmented  13  per  cent.,  and  that  of  the 
border  state  of  Ohio  61  per  cent,  in  the  same  space  of  time.  The 
general  table  of  these  changes,  which  is  given  in  the  National  Calendar, 
displays  a  striking  picture  of  the  unequal  fortunes  of  the  different  states. 

t  It  has  just  been  »aid  that  in  the  course  of  the  last  term  the  popu 
lation  of  Virginia  bus  increased  13  per  cent.;  and  it  is  necessary  to 
explain  how  the  number  of  representatives  of  a  state  may  decrease, 
when  the  population  of  that  state,  far  from  diminishing,  is  actually 
upon  the  increase.  I  take  the  state  of  Virginia,  to  which  I  have 
already  alluded,  as  riy  term  of  comparison.  The  number  of  represen 
tatives  of  Virginia  in  1S23  was  proportionate  to  the  total  number  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Union,  and  to  the  relation  which  its  population 
bore  to  that  of  the  whole  Union  ;  in  1833,  the  number  of  representatives 
of  Virginia  was  likewise  proportionate  to  the  total  number  of  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Union,  and  to  the  relation  which  its  population, 
augmented  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  bore  to  the  augmented  population 
of  the  Union  in  the  same  space  of  time.  The  new  number  of  Virginian 
representatives  will  then  be  to  the  old  number,  on  the  one  hand,  as  the 
new  number  of  ail  the  representatives  is  to  the  old  number ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  'is  the  augmentation  of  the  population  of  Virginia  is  to 
that  of  the  whole  population  of  the  country.  Thus,  if  the  increase  of 
the  population  of  the  lesser  country  be  to  that  of  the  greater  in  an 
exact  inverse  ratio  of  the  proportion  between  the  new  and  the  old 
numbers  of  all  the  representatives,  the  number  of  representatives  of 
Virginia  will  remain  stationary ;  and  if  the  increase  of  the  Virginian 
population  be  to  that  of  the  whole  Union  in  a  feebler  ratio  than  the 
new  number  of  representatives  of  the  Union  to  the  old  number,  the 
number  of  the  representatives  of  Virginia  must  decrease 


403  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

the  independence  of  the  others.  New  York  might,  perhaps, 
succeed  with  its  two  millions  of  inhabitants  and  its  forty 
representatives,  in  dictating  to  the  other  states  in  congress. 
But  even  if  the  more  powerful  states  make  no  attempt  to  bear 
down  the  lesser  ones,  the  danger  still  exists  ;  for  there  is 
almost  as  much  in  the  possibility  of  the  act  as  in  the  act  itself. 
The  weak  generally  mistrusts  the  justice  and  the  reason  of 
the  strong.  The  states  which  increase  less  rapidily  than  the 
others,  look  upon  those  which  are  more  favored  by  fortune, 
with  envy  and  suspicion.  Hence  arise  the  deep-seated 
uneasiness  and  ill-defined  agitation  which  are  observable  in 
the  south,  and  which  form  so  striking  a  contrast  to  the  confi 
dence  and  prosperity  which  are  common  to  other  parts  of  the 
Union.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  hostile  measures 
taken  by  the  southern  provinces  upon  a  recent  occasion,  are 
attributable  tq  no  other  cause.  The  inhabitants  of  the  south 
ern  states  are,  of  all  the  Americans,  those  who  are  most 
interested  in  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  ;  they  would 
assuredly  suffer  most  from  being  left  to  themselves;  and 
yet  they  are  the  only  citizens  who  threaten  to  break  the  tie  of 
confederation.  But  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  the  south, 
which  has  given  four  presidents,  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Monroe,  to  the  Union  7  which  perceives  that  it 
is  losing  its  federal  influence,  and  that  the  number  of  its 
representatives  in  congress  is  diminishing  from  year  to  yearv, 
while  those  of  the  northern  and  western  states  are  increasing  ; 
the  south,  which  is  peopled  with  ardent  and  irascible  beings," 
is  becoming  more  and  more  irritated  and  alarmed.  The 
citizens  reflect  upon  their  present  position  and  remember 
their  past  influence,  with  the  melancholy  uneasiness  of  men 
who  suspect  oppression :  if  they  discover  a  law  of  the  Union 
vrhich  is  not  unequivocally  favorable  to  their  interests,  they 
protest  against  it  as  an  abuse  of  force  ;  and  if  their  ardent 
remonstrances  are  not  listened  to,  they  threaten  to  quit  an 
association  which  loads  them  with  burdens  while  it  deprives 
them  of  their  due  profits.  "  The  tariff,"  said  the  inhabifants 
of  Carolina  in  1832,  "  enriches  the  north,  and  ruins  the  south  ; 
for  if  this  were  not  the  case,  to  what  can  we  attribute  the 
continually  increasing  power  and  wealth  of  the  north,  with 
its  inclement  skies  and  arid  soil ;  while  the  south,  which  may 
be  styled  the  garden  of  America,  is  rapidly  declining.'7* 
If  the  changes  which  I  have  described  were  gradual,  so  that 

*  See  the  report  of  its  committees  to  the  convention,  which  pro 
claimed  the  nullification  of  the  tariff  in  South  Carolina 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          407 

each  generation  at  least  might  have  time  to  disappear  with  the 
order  of  things  under  which  it  had  lived,  the  danger  would 
be  less  ;  but  the  progress  of  society  in  America  is  precipitate, 
and  almost  revolutionary.  The  same  citizen  may  have  lived 
to  see  his  state  take  the  lead  in  the  Union,  and  afterward 
become  powerless  in  the  federal  assemblies  ;  and  an  Anglo- 
American  republic  has  been  known  to  grow  as  rapidly  as  a 
man,  passing  from  birth  and  infancy  to  maturity  in  the  course  of 
thirty  years.  It  must  not  be  imagined,  however,  that  the  states 
which  lose  their  preponderance,  also  lose  their  population  or 
or  their  riches  ;  no  stop  is  put  to  their  prosperity,  and  they 
even  go  on  to  increase  more  rapidly  than  any  kingdom  in 
Europe.*  But  they  believe  themselves  to  be  impoverished 
because  their  wealth  does  not  augment  as  rapidly  as  that  of 
their  neighbors.;  and  they  think  that  their  power  is  lost, 
because  they  suddenly  come  into  collision  with  a  power 
greater  than  their  own.f  Thus  they  are  more  hurt  in  their 
feelings  and  their  passions,  than  in  their  interests.  But  this 
is  amply  sufficient  to  endanger  the  maintenance  of  the  Union. 
If  kings  and  peoples  had  only  had  their  true  interests  in  view, 
ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  world,  the  name  of  war  would 
scarcely  be  known  among  mankind. 

•  Thus  the  prosperity  of  the  United  States  is  the  source  of 
the  most  serious  dangers  that  threaten  them,  since  it  tends  to 
create  in  some  of  the  confederate  states  that  over-excitement 
which  accompanies  a  rapid  increase  of  fortune ;  and  to 
awaken  in  others  those  feelings  of  envy,  mistrust,  and  regret, 
which  usually  attend  upon  the  loss  of  it.  The  Americans 
contemplate  this  extraordinary  and  hasty  progress  with  ex 
ultation  ;  but  they  would  be  wiser  to  consider  it  with  sorrow 
and  alarm.  The  Americans  of  the  United  States  must  in 
evitably  become  one  of  the  greatest  nations  in  the  world  ; 

*  The  population  of  a  country  assuredly  constitutes  the  first  element 
of  its  wealth.  In  the  ten  years  (1820-30)  during  which  Virginia  lost 
two  of  its  representatives  in  congress,  its  population  increased  in  the 
proportion  of  13-7  per  cent.  ;  that  of  Carolina  in  the  proportion  of  15 
par  cent.  ;  and  that  of  Georgia  51-5  per  cent.  (See  the  American 
Almanac,  1832,  p.  162.)  But  the  population  of  Russia,  which  increases 
more  rapidly  than  that  of  any  other  European  country,  only  augments 
in  ten  years  at  the  rate  of  9-5  per  cent.  ;  of  France  at  the  rate  of  7  per 
cent.  ;  and  of  Europe  in  general  at  the  rate  of  4-7  per  cent.  (See 
Maltebrun,  vol.  vi.,  p.  95.) 

t  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  depreciation  which  has 
taken  place  in  the  value  of  tobacco,  during  the  last  fifty  years,  has 
notably  diminished  the  opulence  of  the  southern  planters ;  but  this 
circumstance  is  as  independent  of  the  will  of  their  northern  brethren, 
is  it  is  of  their  own 


408  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

their  offset  will  cover  almost  the  whole  of  North  America ; 
the  continent  which  they  inhabit  is  their  dominion,  and  it 
cannot  escape  them.  What  urges  them  to  take  possession  of 
it  so  soon  ?  Riches,  power,  and  renown,  cannot  fail  to  be 
theirs  at  some  future  time  ;  but  they  rush  upon  their  fortune 
as  if  but  a  moment  remained  for  them  to  make  it  their  own. 

I  think  I  have  demonstrated,  that  the  existence  of  the  pre 
sent  confederation  depends  entirely  on  the  continued  assent  of 
all  the  confederates  j  ^and,  starting  from  this  principle,  I  have 
inquired  into  the  causes  which  may  induce  any  of  the  states 
to  separate  from  the  others.  The  Union  may,  however, 
perish  in  two  different  ways  :  one  of  the  confederate  states 
may  choose  to  retire  from  the  compact,  and  so  forcibly  sever 
the  federal  tie ;  ,and  it  is  to  this  supposition  that  most  of  the 
remarks  which  I  have  made  apply  : v  or  the  authority  of  the 
federal  government  may  be  progressively  intrenched  on  by 
the  simultaneous  tendency  of  the  united  republics  to  resume 
their  independence.  The  central  power,  successively  stripped 
of  all  its  prerogatives,  and  reduced  to  impotence  by  tacit  con- 
sent,  would  become  incompetent  to  fulfil  its  purpose ;  and  the 
second  Union  would  perish,  like  the  first,  by  a  sort  of  senile 
inaptitude.  The  gradual  weakening  of  the  federal  tie,  which 
may  finally  lead  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  is  a  distinct 
circumstance,  that  may  produce  a  variety  of  minor  conse 
quences  before  it  operates  so  violent  a  change.  The  confe 
deration  might  still  subsist,  although  its  government  were 
reduced  to  such  a  degree  of  inanition  as  to  paralyze  the 
nation,  to  cause  internal  anarchy,  and  to  check  the  general 
prosperity  of  the  country. 

After  having  investigated/the  causes  which  may  induce 
the  Anglo-Americans  to  disunite,  it  is  important  to  inquire 
whether,  if  the  Union  continues  to  subsist,  their  government 
will  extend  or  contract  its  sphere  of  action,  and  whether  it 
will  become  more  energetic  or  more  weak. 

The  Americans  are  evidently  disposed  to  look  upon  their 
future  condition  with  alarm.  They  perceive  that  in  most  of 
the  nations  of  the  world,  the  exercise  of  the  rights  of  sove 
reignty  tends  to  fall  under  the  control  of  a  few  individuals, 
and  they  are  dismayed  by  the  idea  that  such  will  also  be  the 
case  in  their  own  country.  Even  the  statesmen  feel,  or  affect 
to  feel,  these  fears ;  for,  in  America,  centralization  is  by  no 
means  popular,  and  there  is  no  surer  means  of  courting  the 
majority,  than  by  inveighing  against  the  encroachments  of 
the  central  power.  The  Americans  do  not  perceive  that  the 
countries  in  which  this  alarming  tendency  to  centralization 


AND    WHAT    DANGERS    THREATEN    IT.  409 

exists,  are  inhabited  by  a  single  people ;  while  the  fact  of  the 
Union  being  composed  of  different  confederate  communities, 
is  sufficient  to  baffle  all  the  inferences  which  might  be  drawn 
from  analogous  circumstances.  I  confess  that  I  am  inclined 
to  consider  the  fears  of  a  great  number  of  Americans  as 
purely  imaginary  ;  and  far  from  participating  in  their  dread 
of  the  consolidation  of  power  in  the  hands  of  the  Union,  I 
think  that  the  federal  government  is  visibly  losing  strength. 

To  prove  this  assertion  I  shall  not  have  recourse  to  any 
remote  occurrences,  but  to  circumstances  which  I  have  my 
self  observed,  and  which  belong  to  our  own  time. 

An  attentive  examination  of  what  is  going  on  in  the  United 
States,  will  easily  convince  us  that  two  opposite  tendencies 
exist  in  that  country,  like  two  distinct  currents  flowing  in  con 
trary  directions  in  the  same  channel.  The  Union  has  now 
existed  for  forty-five  years,  and  in  the  course  of  that  time  a 
vast  number  of  provincial  prejudices,  which  were  at  first  hos 
tile  to  its  power,  have  died  away.  .The  patriotic  feeling  which 
attached  each  of  the  Americans  to  his  own  native  state  is  be 
come  less  exclusive ;  and  the  different  parts  of  the  Union 
have  become  more  intimately  connected  the  better  they  have 
become  acquainted  with  each  other.  The  post,*  that  great 
instrument  of  intellectual  intercourse,  now  reaches  into  the 
backwoods ;  and  steamboats  have  established  daily  means  of 
communication  between  the  different  points  of  the  coast.  An 
inland  navigation  of  unexampled  rapidity  conveys  commodi 
ties  up  and  down  the  rivers  of  the  country. y  And  to  these 
facilities  of  nature  and  art  may  be  add^d  those  restless  crav 
ings,  that  busymindedness,  and  love  of  pelf,  which  are  con- 
stantly  urging  the  American  into  active  life,  and  bringing 
him  into  contact  with  his  fellow-citizens.  He  crosses  the 
country  in  every  direction  ;  he  visits  all  the  various  popula 
tions  of  the  land  ;  and  there  is  not  a  province  in  France,  in 
which  the  natives  are  so  well  known  to  each  other  as  the  thir 
teen  millions  of  men  who  cover  the  territory  of  the  United 
States. 

*  In  1832,  the  district  of  Michigan,  which  only  contains  31,639  in 
habitants,  and  is  still  an  almost  unexplored  wilderness,  possessed  940 
miles  of  mail-roads.  The  territory  of  Arkansas,  which  is  still  more 
uncultivated,  was  already  intersected  by  1,938  miles  of  mail-roads 
(See  report  of  the  general  post-office,  30th  November,  1833.)  The 
postage  of  newspapers  alone  in  the  whole  Union  amounted  to  $254,196. 

t  In  the  course  often  years,  from  1821  to  1831,  271  steamboats  have 
been  launched  upon  the  rivers  which  water  the  valley  of  the  Missis 
sippi  alone.  In  1829,  259  steamboats  existed  in  the  United  State* 
<"See  Legislative  Documents,  No.  140,  p.  274.) 


410  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

But  while  the  Americans  intermingle,  they  grow  in  resem 
blance  of  each  other ;  the  differences  resulting  from  their 
climate,  their  origin,  and  their  institutions  diminish  ;  and  they 
all  draw  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  common  type.  Every 
year,  thousands  of  men  leave  the  north  to  settle  in  different 
parts  of  the  Union :  they  bring  with  them  their  faith,  their 
opinions,  and  their  manners  ;  and  as  they  are  more  enlighten 
ed  than  the  men  among  whom  they  are  about  to  dwell,  they 
soon  rise  to  the  head  of  affairs,  and  they  adapt  society  to  their 
own  advantage.  This  continual  emigration  of  the  north  to  the 
south  is  peculiarly  favorable  to  the  fusion  of  all  the  different 
provincial  characters  into  one  national  character.  The  civili 
sation  of  the  north,  appears  to  be  the  common  standard,  to 
which  the  whole  nation  will  one  day  be  assimilated. 

The  commercial  ties  which  unite  the  confederate  states  are 
strengthened  by  the  increasing  manufactures  of  the  Ameri 
cans  ;  and  the  union  which  began  to  exist  in  their  opinions, 
gradually  forms  a  part  of  their  habits :  the  course  of  time  has 
swept  away  the  bugbear  thoughts  which  haunted  the  imagina 
tions  of  the  citizens  in  17H9.  The  federal  power  is  not  be 
come  oppressive ;  it  has  not  destroyed  the  independence  of 
the  states ;  it  has  not  subjected  the  confederates  to  monarchi 
cal  institutions  ;  and  the  Union  has  not  rendered  the  lesser 
states  dependant  upon  the  larger  ones  ;  but  the  confederation 
has  continued  to  increase  in  population,  in  wealth,  and  in 
power.  I  am  therefore  convinced  that  the  natural  obstacles 
to  the  continuance  of  the  American  Union  are  not  so  powerful 
at  the  present  time  as  'they  were  in  1789 ;  and  that  the  ene 
mies  of  the  Union  are  not  so  numerous. 

Nevertheless,  a  careful  examination  of  the  history  of  the 
United  States  for  the  last  forty-five  years,  will  readily  con 
vince  us  that  the  federal  power  is  declining  ;  nor  is  it  difficult 
to  explain  the  causes  of  this  phenomenon.  "When  the  consti 
tution  of  1789  was  promulgated,  the  nation  was  a  prey  to 
anarchy  ;  the  Union,  which  succeeded  this  confusion,  excited 
much  dread  and^much  animosity  ;  but  it  was  warmly  sup 
ported  because  it  satisfied  an  imperious  want.  Thus,  although 
it  was  more  attacked  than  it  is  now,  the  federal  power  soon 
reached  the  maximum  of  its  authority,  as  is  usually  the  case 
with  a  government  which  triumphs  after  having  braced  its 
strength  by  the  struggle.  At  that  time  the  interpretation  of 
the  constitution  seemed  to  extend  rather  than  to  repress,  the 
federal  so^  ereignty ;  and  the  Union  offered,  in  several 
respects,  the  appearance  of  a  single  and  undivided  people, 
directed  in  its  foreign  and  internal  policy  by  a  single  govern- 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          411 

ment.  But  to  attain  this  point/  the  people  had  risen,  to  a  cer 
tain  extent,  above  itself. 

The  constitution  had  not  destroyed  the  distinct  sovereignty 
of  the  states  ;  and  all  communities,  of  whatever  nature  they 
may  be,  are  impelled  by  a  secret  propensity  to  assert  their 
independence.  This  propensity  is  still  more  decided  in  a 
country  like  America,  in  which  every  village  forms  a  sort  of 
republic  accustomed  to  conduct  its  own  affairs.  It  therefore 
cost  the  states  an  effort  to  submit  to  the  federal  supremacy  ; 
and  all  efforts,  however  successful  they  may  be,  necessarily 
subside  with  the  causes  in  which  they  originated. 

As  the  federal  government  consolidated  its  authority,  Ame 
rica  resumed  its  rank  among  the  nations,  peace  returned  to 
its  frontiers,  and  public  credit  was  restored  ;  confusion  was 
succeeded  by  a  fixed  state  of  things  which  was  favorable  to 
the  full  and  free  exercise  of  industrious  enterprise.  It  was 
this  very  prosperity  which  made  the  Americans  forget  the 
cause  to  which  it  was  attributable ;  and  when  once  the  dan 
ger  was  passed,  the  energy  and  the  patriotism  which  had 
enabled  them  to  brave  it,  disappeared  from  among  them.  No 
sooner  were  they  delivered  from  the  cares  which  oppressed 
them,  than  they  easily  returned  to  their  ordinary  habits,  and 
gave  themselves  up  without  resistance  to  their  natural  incli 
nations.  When  a  powerful  government  no  longer  appeared 
to  be  necessary,  they  once  more  began  to  think  it  irksome. 
The  Union  encouraged  a  general  prosperity,  and  the  states 
were  not  inclined  to  abandon  the  Union  ;  but  they  desired  to 
render  the  action  of  the  power  which  represented  that  body 
as  light  as  possible.  The  general  principle  of  union  was 
adopted,  but  in  every  minor  detail  there  was  an  actual  ten 
dency  to  independence.  The  principle  of  confederation  was 
every  day  more  easily  admitted  and  more  rarely  applied  ;  so 
that  the  federal  government  brought  about  its  own  decline, 
while  it  was  creating  order  and  peace. 

As  soon  as  this  tendency  of  public  opinion  began  to  be 
manifested  externally,  the  leaders  of  parties,  who  live  by  the 
passions  of  the  people,  began  to  work  it  to  their  own  advan 
tage.  The  position  of  the  federal  government  then  became 
exceedingly  critical.  Its  enemies  were  in  possession  of  the 
popular  favor  ;  and  they  obtained  the  right  of  conducting  its 
policy  by  pledging  themselves  to  lessen  its  influence.  From 
that  time  forward,  the  government  of  the  Union  has  invaria 
bly  been  obliged  to  recede,  as  often  as  it  has  attempted  to 
enter  the  lists  with  the  government  of  the  states.  And  when 
ever  an  interpretation  of  the  terms  of  the  federal  constitution 


412  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION. 

has  been  called  for,  that  interpretation  has  most  frequently 
been  opposed  to  the  Union,  and  favorable  to  the  states. 

The  constitution  invested  the  federal  government  with  the 
right  of  providing  for  the  interests  of  the  nation  ;  and  it  has 
been  held  that  no  other  authority  was  so  fit  to  superintend 
the  "  internal  improvements  "  which  affected  the  prosperity 
of  the  whole  Union  ;  such,  for  instance,  as  the  cutting  of 
canals.  But  the  states  were  alarmed  at  a  power,  distinct 
from  their  own,  which  could  thus  dispose  of  a  portion  of  their 
territory,  and  they  were  afraid  that  the  central  government 
would,  by  this  means,  acquire  a  formidable  extent  of  patron 
age  within  their  own  confines,  and  exercise  a  degree  of  influ 
ence  which  they  intended  to  reserve  exclusively  to  their  own 
agents.  The  democratic  party,  which  has  constantly  been 
opposed  to  the  increase  of  the  federal  authority,  then  accused 
the  congress  of  usurpation,  and  the  chief  magistrate  of  ambi 
tion.  The  central  government  was  intimidated  by  the  oppo 
sition  ;  and  it  soon  acknowledged  its  error,  promising  exactly 
to  confine  its  influence,  for  the  future,  within  the  circle  which 
was  prescribed  to  it. 

The  constitution  confers  upon  the  Union  the  right  of  treat 
ing  with  foreign  nations.  The  Indian  tribes,  which  border 
upon  the  frontiers  of  the  United  States,  have  usually  been  re 
garded  in  this  light.  As  long  as  these  savages  consented  to 
retire  before  the  civilized  settlers,  the  federal  right  was  not 
contested  ;  but  as  soon  as  an  Indian  tribe  attempted  to  fix  its 
dwelling  upon  a  given  spot,  the  adjacent  states  claimed  pos 
session  of  the  lands  and  the  rights  of  sovereignty  over  the 
natives.  The  central  government  soon  recognized  both  these 
claims  ;  and  after  it  had  concluded  treaties  with  the  Indians 
as  independent  nations,  it  gave  them  up  as  subjects  to  the 
legislative  tyranny  of  the  states.* 

Some  of  the  states  which  had  been  founded  upon  the  coast 
of  the  Atlantic,  extended  indefinitely  to  the  west,  into  wild 
regions,  where  no  European  had  ever  penetrated.  The 
states  whose  confines  were  irrevocably  fixed,  looked  with  a 
jealous  eye  upon  the  unbounded  regions  which  the  future 
would  enable  their  neighbors  to  explore.  The  latter  then 
agreed,  with  a  view  to  conciliate  the  others,  and  to  facilitate 
the  act  of  union,  to  Jay  down  their  own  boundaries,  and  to 
abandon  all  the  territory  which  lay  beyond  those  limits  to  the 

*  See  in  the  legislative  documents  already  quoted  in  speaking  of  the 
Indians,  the  letter  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  the  Chero- 
kees,  his  correspondence  on  this  subject  with  his  agents,  and  his  mes 
sages  to  congress. 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          413 

confederation  at  large.*  Thenceforward  the  federal  govern- 
ment  became  the  owner  of  all  the  uncultivated  lands  which 
lie  beyond  the  borders  of  the  thirteen  states  first  confederated. 
It  was  invested  with  the  right  of  parcelling  and  selling  them, 
and  the  sums  derived  from  this  source  were  exclusively  re 
served  to  the  public  treasury  of  the  Union,  in  order  to  furnish 
supplies  for  purchasing  tracts  of  country  from  the  Indians, 
for  opening  roads  to  the  remote  settlements,  and  for  accelerat 
ing  the  increase  of  civilisation  as  much  as  possible.  New 
states  have,  however,  been  formed  in  the  course  of  time,  in 
the  midst  of  those  wilds  which  were  formerly  ceded  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic.  Congress  has  gone 
on  to  sell,  for  the  profit  of  the  nation  at  large,  the  uncultivat 
ed  lands  which  those  new  states  contained.  But  the  latter 
at  length  asserted  that,  as  they  were  now  fully  constituted, 
they  ought  to  enjoy  the  exclusive  right  of  converting  the  pro 
duce  of  these  sales  to  their  own  use.  As  their  remonstrances 
became  more  and  more  threatening,  congress  thought  fit  to 
deprive  the  Union  of  a  portion  of  the  privileges  which  it  had 
hitherto  enjoyed  ;  and  at  the  end  of  1832  it  passed  a  law  by 
which  the  greatest  part  of  the  revenue  derived  from  the  sale 
of  lands  was  made  over  to  the  new  western  republics,  al 
though  the  lands  themselves  were  not  ceded  to  them.f 

[The  remark  of  the  author,  that  "whenever  an  interpretation  of  the 
terms  of  the  federal  constitution  has  been  called  for,  that  interpretation 
has  most  frequently  been  opposed  to  the  Union,  and  favorable  to  the 
states  "  requires  considerable  qualification.  The  instances  which  the 
author  cites,  are  those  of  legislative  interpretations,  not  those  made  by 
the  judiciary.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  any  of  those  cited  by 
him  are  fair  instances  of  interpretation.  Although  the  then  president 
and  many  of  his  friends  doubted  or  denied  the  power  of  congress  over 
many  of  the  subjects  mentioned  by  the  author,  yet  the  omission  to  ex 
ercise  the  power  thus  questioned,  did  not  proceed  wholly  from  doubts 
of  the  constitutional  authority.  It  must  be  remembered  that  all  these 
questions  affected  local  interests  of  the  states  or  districts  represented 
in  congress,  and  the  author  has  elsewhere  shown  the  tendency  of  the 
local  feeling  to  overcome  all  regard  for  the  abstract  interest  of  the 
Union.  Hence  many  members  have  voted  on  these  questions  without 
reference  to  the  constitutional  question,  and  indeed  without  entertain 
ing  any  doubt  of  their  power.  These  instances  may  afford  proof  that 
the  federal  power  is  declining,  as  the  author  contends,  but  they  do  not 

*  The  first  act  of  cession  was  made  by  the  state  of  New  York  in 
1780 ;  Virginia,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  South  and  North  Caroli 
na,  followed  this  example  at  different  times,  and  lastly,  the  act  of  ces 
sion  of  Georgia  was  made  as  recently  as  1802. 

t  It  is  true  that  the  president  refused  his  assent  to  this  law  ;  but  he 
completely  adopted  it  in  principle.  See  message  of  8th  Decem 
ber,  1833 


414  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN   UNION, 

prove  any.  actual  interpretation  of  the  constitution.  And  so  numerous 
and  various  are  the  circumstances  to  influence  the  decision  of  a  legisla 
tive  body  like  the  congress  of  the  United  States,  that  the  people  dc 
not  regard  them  as  sound  and  authoritative  expositions  of  the  true 
sense  of  the  constitution,  except  perhaps  in  those  very  few  cases, 
where  there  has  been  a  constant  and  uninterrupted  practice  from  the 
organization  of  the  government.  The  judiciary  is  looked  to  as  the 
only  authentic  expounder  of  the  constitution,  and  until  a  law  of  con 
gress  has  passed  that  ordeal,  its  constitutionality  is  open  to  question : 
of  which  our  history  furnishes  many  examples There  are  er 
rors  in  some  of  the  instances  given  by  our  author,  which  would  materi 
ally  mislead,  if  not  corrected.  That  in  relation  to  the  Indians  proceeds 
upon  the  assumption  that  the  United  States  claimed  some  rights  over 
Indians  or  the  territory  occupied  by  them,  inconsistent  with  the 
claims  of  the  states.  But  this  is  a  mistake.  As  to  their  lands,  the 
United  States  never  pretended  to  any  right  in  them,  except  such  as 
was  granted  by  the  cessions  of  the  states.  The  principle  universally 
acknowledged  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
states,  is,  that  by  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  in  which  the  independ 
ence  of  the  colonies  was  acknowledged,  the  states  became  severally 
and  individually  independent,  and  as  such  succeeded  to  the  rights  of 
the  crown  of  England  to  and  over  the  lands  within  the  boundaries  of 
the  respective  states.  The  right  of  the  crown  in  these  lands  was  the 
absolute  ownership,  subject  only  to  the  rights  of  occupancy  by  the 
Indians  so  long  as  they  remained  a  tribe.  This  right  devolved  to  each 
state  by  the  treaty  which  established  their  independence,  and  the 
United  States  have  never  questioned  it.  See  6th  Cranch,  87  ;  8th 
Wheaton,  502,  S84  ;  17th  Johnson's  Reports,  231.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  right  of  holding  treaties  with  the  Indians  has  universally  been 
conceded  to  the  United  States.  The  right  of  a  state  to  the  lands  oc 
cupied  by  the  Indians,  within  the  boundaries  of  such  state,  does  not  in 
the  least  conflict  with  the  right  of  holding  treaties  on  national  subjects 
by  the  United  States  with  those  Indians.  With  respect  to  Indians  re 
siding  in  any  territory  without  the  boundaries  of  any  state,  or  on  lands 
ceded  to  the  United  States,  the  case  is  different ;  the  United  States 
are  in  such  cases  the  proprietors  of  the  soil,  subject  to  the  Indian 
right  of  occupancy,  and  when  that  right  is  extinguished  the  proprie 
torship  becomes  absolute.  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  in  relation  to 
the  Indians  and  their  lands,  no  question  could  arise  respecting  the  in 
terpretation  of  the  constitution.  The  observation  that  "  as  soon  as  an 
Indian  tribe  attempted  to  fix  its  dwelling  upon  a  given  spot,  the  adja 
cent  states  claimed  possession  of  the  lands,  and  the  rights  of  sovereign 
ty  over  the  natives  " — is  a  strange  compound  of  error  and  of  truth. 
As  above  remarked,  the  Indian  right  of  occupancy  has  ever  been  re 
cognized  by  the  states,  with  the  exception  of  the  case  referred  to  by 
the  author,  in  which  Georgia  claimed  the  right  to  possess  certain 
lands  occupied  by  the  Cherokees.  This  was  anomalous,  and  grew 
out  of  treaties  and  cessions,  the  details  of  which  are  too  numerous  and 
complicated  for  the  limits  of  a  note.  But  in  no  other  cases  have  the 
states  ever  claimed  the  possession  of  lands  occupied  by  Indians,  with 
out  having  previously  extinguished  their  right  by  purchase. 

As  to  the  rights  of  sovereignty  over  the  natives,  the  principle  admit 
ted  in  the  United  States  is  that  all  persons  within  the  territorial  limits 
of  a  state  are  and  of  necessity  must  be,  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
its  laws.  While  the  Indian  tribes  were  numerous,  distinct,  and  sepa 
rate  from  the  whites,  and  possessed  a  government  of  their  own,  the 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          415 

state  authorities,  from  considerations  of  policy,  abstained  from  the  ex 
ercise  of  criminal  jurisdiction  for  offences  committed  by  the  [ndiang 
among;  themselves,  although  for  offences  against  the  whites  they  were 
subjected  to  the  operation  of  the  state  laws.  But  as  these  tribes  dini 
nished  in  numbers,  as  those  who  remained  among  them  became  ener 
vated  by  bad  habits,  and  ceased  to  exercise  any  effectual  government, 
humanity  demanded  that  the  power  of  the  states  should  be  interposed 
to  protect  the  miserable  remnants  from  the  violence  and  outrage  of 
each  other.  The  first  recorded  instance  of  interposition  in  such  a  case 
was  in  IS'21,  when  an  Indian  of  the  Seneca  tri&e  in  the  state  of  New 
York  was  tried  and  convicted  of  murder  on  a  squaw  of  the  tribe.  The 
courts  declared  their  competency  to  take  cognizance  of  such  offences, 

and  the  legislature  confirmed  the  declaration  by  a  law. -Another 

instance  of  what  the  author  calls  interpretation  of  the  constitutisn 
against  the  general  government,  is  given  by  him  in  the  proposed  act  of 
1832,  which  passed  both  houses  of  congress,  but  was  vetoed  by  the 
president,  by  which,  as  he  says,  "  the  greatest  part  of  the  revenue  de 
rived  from  the  sale  of  hinds,  was  made  over  to  the  new  western  repub 
lics."  But  this  act  was  not  founded  on  any  doubt  of  the  title  of  the 
United  States  to  the  lands  in  question,  or  of  its  constitutional  power 
over  them,  and  cannot  be  cited  as  any  evidence  of  the  interpretation  of 
the  constitution.  An  error  of  fact  in  this  statement  ought  to  be  cor 
rected.  The  bill  to  which  the  author  refers,  is  doubtless  that  usually 
called  Mr.  Clay's  land  bill.  Instead  of  making  over  the  greatest  part 
of  the  revenue  to  the  new  states,  it  appropriated  twelve  and  a  half  per 
cent,  to  them,  in  addition  to  five  per  cent,  which  had  been  originally 
granted  for  the  purpose  of  making  roads.  See  Niles's  Register,  vol.  42, 
p.  355. — American  Editor. ~\ 

The  slightest  observation  in  the  United  States  enables  one 
to  appreciate  the  advantages  which  the  country  derives  from 
the  bank.  These  advantages  are  of  several  kinds,  but  one  of 
them  is  peculiarly  striking  to  the  stranger.  The  bank-notes 
of  the  United  States  are  taken  upon  the  borders  of  the  desert 
for  the  same  value  as  at  Philadelphia,  where  the  bank  con 
ducts  its  operations.* 

The  bank  of  the  United  States  is  nevertheless  an  object  of 
great  animosity.  Its  directors  have  proclaimed  their  hostility 
to  the  president ;  and  they  are  accused,  not  without  some 
show  of  probability,  of  having  abused  their  influence  to 
thwart  his  election.  The  president  therefore  attacks  the 
estaolishment  which  they  represent,  with  all  the  warmth  of 
personal  enmity  ;  and  he  is  encouraged  in  the  pursuit  of  his 
revenge  by  the  conviction  that  he  is  supported  by  the  secret 
propensities  of  the  majority.  The  bank  may  be  regarded  as 
the  great  monetary  tie  of  the  Union,  just  as  congress  is  the 

*  The  present  bank  of  the  United  States  was  established  in  1816, 
with  a  capital  of  35,000,000  dollars  ;  its  charter  expires  in  1S3G.  Last 
year  congress  passed  a  law  to  renew  it,  but  the  president  put  his  veto 
upon  the  bill.  The  struggle  is  still  going  on  with  great  violence  on 
either  side,  and  the  speedy  all  of  the  bank  may  easily  be  foreseen 


415  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    FNION, 

great  legislative  tie ;  and  the  same  passions  which  tend  tr 
render  the  states  independent  of  the  central  power,  contribute 
to  the  overthrow  of  the  bank. 

The  bank  of  the  United  States  always  holds  a  great  number 
of  the  notes  issued  by  the  provincial  banks,  which  it  can  at 
any  time  oblige  them  to  convert  into  cash.  It  has  itself 
nothing  to  fear  from  a  similar  demand,  as  the  extent  of  its 
resources  enables  it  to  meet  all  claims.  But  the  existence  of 
the  provincial  banks  is  thus  threatened,  and  their  operations 
are  restricted,  since  they  are  only  able  to  issue  a  quantity  of 
notes  duly  proportioned  to  their  capital.  They  submit  with 
impatience  to  this  salutary  control.  The  newspapers  which 
they  have  bought  over,  and  the  president,  whose  interest 
renders  him  their  instrument,  attack  the  bank  with  the  great 
est  vehemence.  They  rouse  the  local  passions,  and  the  blind 
democratic  instinct  of  the  country  to  aid  their  cause ;  and 
they  assert  that  the  bank-directors  form  a  permanent  aristo 
cratic  body,  whose  influence  must  ultimately  be  felt  in  the 
government,  and  must  affect  those  principles  of  equality  upon 
which  society  rests  in  America. 

The  contest  between  the  bank  and  its  opponents  is  only  an 
incident  in  the  great  struggle  which  is  going  on  in  America 
between  the  provinces  and  the  central  power ;  between  the 
spirit  of  democratic  independence,  and  the  spirit  of  gradation 
and  subordination.  I  do  not  mean  that  the  enemies  of  the 
bank  are  identically  the  same  individuals,  who,  on  other 
points,  attack  the  federal  government ;  but  I  assert  that  the 
attacks  directed  against  the  bank  of  the  United  States  origin 
ate  in  the  propensities  which  militate  against  the  federal  gov 
ernment  ;  and  that  the  very  numerous  opponents  of  the 
former  afford  a  deplorable  symptom  of  the  decreasing  support 
of  the  latter. 

The  Union  has  never  displayed  so  much  weakness  as  in  the 
celebrated  question  of  the  tariff.*  The  wars  of  the  French 
revolution  and  of  1812  had  created  manufacturing  establish 
ments  in  the  north  of  the  Union,  by  cutting  off  all  free  com 
munication  between  America  and  Europe.  When  peace  was 
concluded,  and  the  channel  of  intercourse  reopened  by  which 
the  produce  of  Europe  was  transmitted  to  the  New  World, 
the  Americans  thought  fit  to  establish  a  system  of  import  du 
ties,  for  the  twofold  purpose  of  protecting  their  incipient  manu 
factures,  and  of  paying  off  the  amount  of  the  debt  contracted 

*  See  principally  for  the  details  of  this  affair,  the  legislative  docu 
ments,  22d  congress,  2d  session,  No  30. 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          417 

during  the  war.  The  southern  states,  which  have  no  manu 
factures  to  encourage,  and  which  are  exclusively  agricultural, 
soon  complained  of  this  measure.  Such  were  the  simple 
facts,  and  I  do  not  pretend  to  examine  in  this  place  whether 
their  complaints  were  well  founded  or  unjust. 

As  early  as  the  year  1820,  South  Carolina  declared,  in  a 
petition  to  Congress,  that  the  tariff  was  "  unconstitutional, 
oppressive,  and  unjust."  And  the  states  of  Georgia,  "Vir 
ginia,  North  Carolina,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi,  subsequent 
ly  remonstrated  against  it  with  more  or  less  vigor.  But  Con 
gress,  far  from  lending  an  ear  to  these  complaints,  raised  the 
scale  of  tariff  duties  in  the  years  1824  and  1828,  and  recog 
nized  anew  the  principle  on  which  it  was  foundedX^  A  doc 
trine  was  then  proclaimed,  or  rather  revived,  in  the  south, 
which  took  the  name  of  nullification. ,- 

I  have  shown  in  the  proper  place  that  the  object  of  the  fe 
deral  constitution  was  not  to  form  a  league,  but  to  create  a 
national  government.  The  Americans  of  the  United  States 
form  a  sole  and  undivided  people,  in  all  the  cases  which  are 
specified  by  that  constitution ;  and  upon  these  points  the  will 
of  the  nation  is  expressed,  as  it  is  in  all  constitutional  nations, 
by  the  voice  of  the  majority.  When  the  majority  has  pro 
nounced  its  decision,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  minority  to  submit. 
Such  is  the  sound  legal  doctrine,  and  the  only  one  which 
agrees  with  the  text  of  the  constitution,  and  the  known  inten 
tion  of  those  who  framed  it. 

The  partisans  of  nullification  in  the  south  maintain,  on  the 
contrary,  that  the  intention  of  the  Americans  in  uniting  was 
not  to  reduce  themselves  to  the  condition  of  one  and  the  same 
people  ;  that  they  meant  to  constitute  a  league  of  independ 
ent  states ;  and  that  each  state,  consequently,  retains  its  en 
tire  sovereignty/if  not  de  facto,  at  least  de  jure;  and  has  the 
right  of  putting  its  own  construction  upon  the  laws  of  con 
gress,  and  of  suspending  their  execution  within  the  limits  of 
its  own  territory,  if  they  are  held  to  be  unconstitutional  or 
unjust. 

The  entire  doctrine  of  nullification  is  comprised  in  a  sen 
tence  uttered  by  Vice-President  Calhoun,  the  head  of  that 
party  in  the  south,  before  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  year  1833  :  "  The  constitution  is  a  compact  to  which  the 
states  were  parties  in  their  sovereign  capacity ;  now,  when 
ever  a  contract  is  entered  into  by  parties  which  acknowledge 
no  tribunal  above  their  authority  to  decide  in  the  last  resort, 
each  of  them  has  a  right  to  judge  for  himself  in  relation  to 
the  nature,  extent,  and  obligations  of  the  instrument."  It  is 
2T 


418  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN   UNION, 

evident  that  a  similar  doctrine  destroys  the  very  basis  of  the 
federal  constitution,  and  brings  back  all  the  evils  of  the  old 
confederation,  from  which  the  Americans  were  supposed  to 
have  had  a  safe  deliverance. 

When  South  Carolina  perceived  that  Congress  turned  a  deat 
ear  to  its  remonstrances,  it  threatened  to  apply  the  doctrine 
of  nullification  to  the  federal  tariff  bill.  Congress  persisted 
in  its  former  system  ;  and  at  length  the  storm  broke  out.  In 
the  course  of  1832  the  citizens  0;f  South  Carolina*  named  a 
national  [state]  convention,  to  consult  upon  the  extraordinary 
measures  which  they  were  called  upon  to  take ;  and  on  the  24th 
November  of  the  same  year,  this  convention  promulgated  a 
law,  under  the  form  of  "a  decree,  which  annulled  the  federal 
law  of  the  tariff,  forbade  the  levy  of  the  imposts  which  that 
law  commands,  and  refused  to  recognize  the  appeal  which 
might  be  made  to  the  federal  courts  of  law.f  This  decree 
was  only  to  be  put  into  execution  in  the  ensuing  month  of 
February,  and  it  was  intimated,  that  if  Congress  modified  the 
tariff  before  that  period,  South  Carolina  might  be  induced  to 
proceed  no  farther  with  her  menaces  ;  and  a  vague  desire 
was  afterward  expressed  of  submitting  the  question  to  an  ex 
traordinary  assembly  of  all  the  confederate  states. 

In  the  meantime  South  Carolina  armed  her  militia,  and  pre 
pared  for  war.  But  congress,  which  had  slighted  its  suppliant 
subjects,  listened  to  their  complaints  as  soon  as  they  were 

found  to  have  taken  up  arms.J     A  law  was  passed,  by  which 
i 

*  That  is  to  say,  the  majority  of  the  people;  for  the  opposite  party, 
called  the  Union  party,  always  formed  a'very  strong  and  active  minor 
ity.  Carolina  may  contain  about  47,000  electors ;  30,000  were  in  fa 
vor  of  nullification,  and  17,000  opposed  to  it. 

t'  This  decree  was  preceded  by  a  report  of  the  committee  by  which 
it  was  framed,  containing  the  explanation  of  the  motives  and  object  of 
the  law.  The  following  passage  occurs  in  it,  p.  34  :  "  When  the 
rights  reserved  by  the  constitution  to  the  different  states  are  deliber 
ately  violated,  it  is  the  duty  and  the  right  of  those  states  to  interfere, 
in  order  to  chieck  the  progress  of  the  evil,  to  resist  usurpation,  and  to 
maintain,  within  their  respective  limits,  those  powers  and  privileges 
which  belong  to  them  as  independent  sovereign  states.  If  they  were 
destitute  of  this  right,  they  would  not  be  sovereign.  South  Carolina 
declares  that  she  acknowledges  no  tribunal  upon  earth  above  her  au 
thority.  She  has  indeed  entered  into  a  solemn  compact  of  union  with 
the  other  states  :  but  she  demands,  and  will  exercise,  the  right  of  put 
ting  her  own  construction  upon  it ;  and  when  this  compact  is  violated 
by  her  sister  states,  and  by  the  government  which  they  have  created, 
she  is  determined  to  avail  herself  of  the  unquestionable  right  of  judg 
ing  what  is  the  extent  of  the  infraction,  and  what  are  the  measures 
best  fitted  to  obtain  justice'." 

\  Congress  was  finally  decided  to  take  this  step  by  the  conduct  of 
the  powerful  state  of  Virginia,  whose  legislature  offered  to  serve  aa  a 


AND    WHAT    DANGERS    THREATEN    IT.  419 

the  tariff  duties  were  to  be  progressively  reduced  for  ten  years, 
until  they  were  brought  so  low  as  not  to  exceed  the  amount 
of  supplies  necessary  to  the  government.*  Thus  congress 
completely  abandoned  the  principle  of  the  tariff;  and  substi 
tuted  a  mere  fiscal  impost  for  a  system  of  protective  duties. f 
The  government  of  the  Union,  in  order  to  conceal  its  defeat, 
had  recourse  to  an  expedient  which  is  very  much  in  vogue 
with  feeble  governments.  It  yielded  the  point  de  facto,  but  it 
remained  inflexible  upon  the  principles  in  question  ;  and  while 
congress  was  altering  the  tariff  law,  it  passed  another  bill,  by 
which  the  president  was  invested  with  extraordinary  powers, 
enabling  him  to  overcome  by  force  a  resistance  which  was 
then  no  longer  to  be  apprehended. 

But  South  Carolina  did  not  consent  to  leave  the  Union  in  the 
enjoyment  of  these  scanty  trophies  of  success :  the  same  na 
tional  [state]  convention  which  annulled  the  tariff  bill,  met 
again,  and  accepted  the  proffered  concession  :  but  at  the  same 
time  it  declared  its  unabated  perseverance  in  the  doctrine  of 
nullification  ;  and  to  prove  what  it  said,  it  annulled  the  law 
investing  the  president  with  extraordinary  powers,  although  it 
was  very  certain  that  the  clauses  of  that  law  would  never  be 
carried  into  effect. 

Almost  all  the  controversies  of  which  I  have  been  speaking 
have  taken  place  under  the  presidency  of  General  Jackson  ; 
and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  in  the  question  of  the  tariff  he 
has  supported  the  claims  of  the  Union  with  vigor  and  with  skill. 
I  am  however  of  opinion  that  the  conduct  of  the  individual 
who  now  represents  the  federal  government,  may  be  reckoned 
as  one  of  the  dangers  which  threaten  its  continuance. 

Some  persons  in  Europe  have  formed  an  opinion  of  the  pos 
sible  influence  of  General  Jackson  upon  the  affairs  of  his 
country,  which  appears  highly  extravagant  to  those  who  have 
seen  more  of  the  subject.  We  have  been  told  that  General 
Jackson  has  won  sundry  battles,  that  he  is  an  energetic  man, 
prone  by  nature  and  by  habit  to  the  use  of  force,  covetous  of 
power,  and  a  despot  by  taste.  All  this  may  perhaps  be  true  ; 
but  the  inferences  which  have  been  drawn  from  these  truths 
are  exceedingly  erroneous.  It  has  been  imagined  that  General 
Jackson  is  bent  on  establishing  a  dictatorship  in  America,  on 

mediator  between  the  Union  and  South  Carolina.  Hitherto  the  latter 
state  had  appeared  to  be  entirely  abandoned  even  by  the  states  which 
had  joined  her  in  her  remonstrances. 

*  This  law  was  passed  on  the  2d  March,  1833. 

f  This  bill  was  brought  in  by  Mr.  Clay,  and  it  passed  in  four  day 
through  both  houses  of  Congress,  by  an  immense  majority. 


420  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

introducing  a  military  spirit,  and  on  giving  a  degree  of  influ 
ence  to  the  central  authority  which  cannot  but  be  dangerous 
to  provincial  liberties.  But  in  America,  the  time  for  similar 
undertakings,  and  the  age  for  men  of  this  kind,  is  not  yet 
come ;  if  General  Jackson  had  entertained  a  hope  of  exercising 
his  authority  in  this  manner,  he  would  infallibly  have  forfeited 
his  political  station,  and  compromised  his  life  ;  accordingly  he 
has  not  been  so  imprudent  as  to  make  any  such  attempt. 

Far  from  wishing  to  extend  the  federal  power,  the  president 
belongs  to  *he  party  which  is  desirous  of  limiting  that  power 
to  the  bare  and  precise  letter  of  the  constitution,  and  which 
never  puts  a  construction  upon  that  act,  favorable  to  the  go 
vernment  of  the  Union  *  far  from  standing  forth  as  "he  cham 
pion  of  centralization,  General  Jackson  is  the  agent  of  all  the 
jealousies  of  the  states ;  and  he  was  placed  in  the  lofty  sta 
tion  he  occupies,  by  the  passions  of  the  people  which  are  most 
opposed  to  the  central  government.  It  is  t»y  perpetually  flat 
tering  these  passions,  that  he  maintains  his  station  and  his 
popularity.  General  Jackson  is  the  slave  of  the  majority :  he 
yields  to  its  wishes,  its  propensities,  and  its  demands ;  say 
rather,  that  he  anticipates  and  forestalls  them. 

Whenever  the  governments  of  the  states  come  into  collision 
with  that  of  the  Union,  the  president  is  generally  the  first  to 
question  his  own  rights:  he  almost  always  outstrips  the  legisla 
ture  j  and  when  the  extent  of  the  federal  power  is  controverted, 
he  takes  part,  as  it  were,  against  himself ;  he  conceals  his 
official  interests,  and  extinguishes  his  own  natural  inclinations. 
Not  indeed  that  he  is  naturally  weak  or  hostile  to  the  Union ; 
for  when  the  majority  decided  against  the  claims  of  the  par 
tisans  of  nullification,  he  put  himself  at  its  head,  asserted  the 
doctrines  which  the  nation  held,  distinctly  and  energetically, 
and  was  the  first  to  recommend  forcible  measures  ;  but  Gene 
ral  Jackson  appears  to  me,  if  I  may  use  the  American  ex 
pressions,  to  be  a  federalist  by  taste,  and  a  republican  by 
calculation. 

General  Jackson  stoops  to  gain  the  favor  of  the  majority : 
but  when  he  feels  that  his  popularity  is  secure,  he  overthrows 
all  obstacles  in  the  pursuit  of  the  objects  which  the  commu 
nity  approves,  or  of  those  which  it  does  not  look  upon  with  a 
jealous  eye.  He  is  supported  by  a  power  with  which  his 
predecessors  were  unacquainted  ;  and  he  tramples  on  his  per 
sonal  enemies  wherever  they  cross  his  path,  with  a  facility 
which  no  former  presi  lent  ever  enjoyed  ;  he  takes  upon  him 
self  the  responsibility  of  measures  which  no  one,  before  him, 
would  have  ventured  to  attempt  ;  he  even  treats  the  nationa1 


AND    WHAT    DANGERS    THREATEN    IT.  421 

representatives  with  disdain  approaching  to  insult  ;  he  puts 
his  veto  upon  the  laws  of  congress,  and  frequently  neglects  to 
reply  to  that  powerful  body.  He  is  a  favorite  who  sometimes 
treats  his  master  roughly.  The  poiver  of  General  Jackson 
perpetually  increases  ;  but  that  of  the  President  declines  :  in 
his  hands  the  federal  government  is  strong,  but  it  will  pass 
enfeebled  into  the  hands  of  his  successor. 

I  am  strangely  mistaken  if  the  federal  government  of  the 
United  States  be  not  constantly  losing  strength,  retiring  grad 
ually  from  public  affairs,  and  narrowing  its  circle  of  action 
more  and  more.  It  is  naturally  feeble,  but  it  now  abandons 
even  its  pretensions  to  strength.  On  the  other  hand,  I  thought 
that  I  remarked  a  more  lively  sense  of  independence,  and  a 
more  decided  attachment  to  provincial  government,  in  the 
states.  The  Union  is  to  subsist,  but  to  subsist  as  a  shadow  ; 
it  is  to  be  strong  in  certain  cases,  and  weak  in  all  others  ;  in 
time  of  \varfare,  it  is  to  be  able  to  concentrate  all  the  forces 
of  the  nation  and  all  the  resources  of  the  country  in  its  hands  ; 
and  in  time  of  peace  its  existence  is  to  be  scarcely  percepti 
ble  :  as  if  this  alternate  debility  and  vigor  were  natural  or 
possible. 

I  do  not  foresee  anything  for  the  present  which  may  be  able 
to  check  this  general  impulse  of  public  opinion :  the  causes 
in  which  it  originated  do  not  cease  to  operate  with  the  same 
effect.  The  change  will  therefore  go  on,  and  it  may  be  pre 
dicted  that,  unless  some  extraordinary  event  occurs,  the 
government  of  the  Union  will  grow  weaker  and  weaker 
every  day. 

I  think,  however,  that  the  period  is  still  remote,  at  which 
the  federal  power  will  be  entirely  extinguished  by  its  inability 
to  protect  itself  and  to  maintain  peace  in  the  country.  The 
Union  is  sanctioned  by  the  manners  and  desires  of  the  people ; 
its  results  are  palpable,  its  benefits  visible.  When  it  is  per 
ceived  that  the  weakness  of  the  federal  government  compro 
mises  the  existence  of  the  Union,  I  do  not  doubt  that  a  reaction 
will  take  place  with  a  view  to  increase  its  strength. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  is,  of  all  the  federal 
governments  which  have  hitherto  been  established,  the  one 
which  is  most  naturally  destined  to  act.  As  long  as  it  is  only 
indirectly  assailed  by  the  interpretation  of  its  laws,  and  as 
long  as  its  substance  is  not  seriously  altered,  a  change  of 
opinion,  an  internal  crisis,  or  a  war,  may  restore  all  the  vigor 
which  it  requires.  The  point  which  I  have  been  most  anxious 
to  put  in  a  clear  light  is  simply  this  ;  many  people,  especially 
in  France,  imagine  that  a  change  of  opinion  is  going  on  in  the 


422  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

United  States,  which  is  favorable  to  a  centralization  of  power 
in  the  hands  of  the  president  and  the  congress.  I  hold  that  a 
contrary  tendency  may  be  distinctly  observed.  So  far  is  the 
federal  government  from  acquiring  strength,  and  from  threat 
ening  the  sovereignty  of  the  states,  as  it  grows  older,  that  1 
maintain  it  to  be  growing  weaker  and  weaker,  and  that  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Union  alone  is  in  danger.  Such  are  the 
facts  which  the  present  time  discloses.  The  future  conceals 
the  final  result  of  this  tendency,  and  the  events  which  may 
cheok,  retard,  or  accelerate,  the  changes  I  have  described  ; 
but  I  do  not  affect  to  be  able  to  remove  the  veil  which  hides 
them  from  our  sight. 


OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  INSTITUTIONS   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  AND 
WHAT   THEIR    CHANCES    OF    DURATION  ARE. 

The  Union  is  Accidental. — The  Republican  Institutions  have  more 
prospect  of  Permanence. — A  Republic  for  the  Present  the  Natural 
State  of  the  Anglo-Americans.— Reason  of  this. — In  order  to  destroy 
it,  all  Laws  must  be  changed  at  the  same  time,  and  a  great  alteration 
take  place  in  Manners  — Difficulties  experienced  by  the  Americans 
in  creating  an  Aristocracy. 

THE  dismemberment  of  the  Union,  by  the  introduction  of  war 
into  the  heart  of  those  states  which  are  now  confederate,  with 
standing  armies,  a  dictatorship,  and  a  heavy  taxation,  might 
eventually  compromise  the  fate  of  the  republican  institutions. 
But  we  ought  not  to  confound  the  future  prospects  of  the  re 
public  with  those  of  the  Union.  The  Union  is  an  accident, 
which  will  last  only  so  long  as  circumstances  are  favorable 
to  its  existence  ;  but  a  republican  form  of  government  seems 
to  me  to  be  the  natural  state  of  the  Americans ;  which  nothing 
I  but  the  continued  action  of  hostile  causes,  always  acting  in 
the  same  direction,  could  change  into  a  monarchy.  The  Union 
exists  principally  in  the  law  which  formed  it ;  one  revolution, 
one  change  in  public  opinion,  might  destroy  it  for  ever ;  but 
the  republic  has  a  much  deeper  foundation  to  rest  upon. 

.What  is  understood  by  republican  government  in  the 
United  States,  is  the  slow  and  quiet  action  of  society  upon 
itself.  It  is  a  regular  state  of  things  really  founded  upon 
the  enlightened  will  of  the  people.  It  is  a  conciliatory  gov 
ernment  under  which  resolutions  are  allowed  time  to  ripen  ; 
and  in  which  they  are  deliberately  discussed,  and  executed 
with  mature  judgment.^  The  republicans  in  the  United  States 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          423 

set  a  high  value  upon  morality,  respect  religious  belief,  and 
acknowledge  the  existence  of  rights.  They  profess  to  think 
that  a  people  ought  to  be  moral,  religious,  and  temperate, 
in  proportion  as  it  is  free.  K  What  is  called  the  republic  in  the 
United  States,  is  the  tranquil  rule  of  the  majority,  which, 
after  having  had  time  to  examine  itself,  and  to  give  proof  of 
its  existence,  is  the  common  source  of  all  the  powers  of  the 
state.  But  the  power  of  the  majority  is  not  of  itself  unlimit- 
ed.\  In  the  moral  world  humanity,  justice,  and  reason,  enjoy 
an  undisputed  supremacy  ;  in  the  political  world  vested  rights 
are  treated  with  no  less  deference^"  The  majority  recognizes 
these  two  barriers  ;  and  if  it  now  and  then  overstep  them,  it 
is  because,  like  individuals,  it  has  passions,  and  like  them,  it 
is  prone  to  do  what  is  wrong,  while  it  discerns  what  is  right. 

But  the  demagogues  of  Europe  have  made  strange  dis 
coveries.  A  republic  is  not,  according  to  them,  the  rule  of 
the  majority,  as  has  hitherto  been  taught,  but  the  rule  of  those 
who  are  strenuous  partisans  of  the  majority.  It  is  not  the 
people  who  preponderates  in  this  kind  of  government,  but 
those  who  best  know  what  is  for  the  good  of  the  people.  A 
happy  distinction,  which  allows  men  to  act  in  the  name  of 
nations  without  consulting  them,  ana1  to  claim  their  gratitude 
while  their  rights  are  spurned.  VA  republican  government, 
moreover,  is  the  only  one  which  claims  the  right  of  doing 
whatever  it  chooses,  and  despising  what  men  have  hitherto  re 
spected,  from  the  highest  moral  obligations  to  the  vulgar  rules 
of  common  sense.  /  It  had  been  supposed,  until  our  time,  that 
despotism  was  odious,  under  whatever  form  it  appeared.  But 
it  is  a  discovery  of  modern  days  that  there  are  such  things 
as  legitimate  tyranny  and  holy  injustice,  provided  they  are 
exercised  in  the  name  of  the  people. 

The  ideas  which  the  Americans  have  adopted  respecting 
the  republican  form  of  government,  render  it  easy  for  them 
to  live  under  it,  and  ensure  its  duration.  If,  in  their  coun 
try,  this  form  be  often  practically  bad,  at  least  it  is  theoreti 
cally  good ;  and,  in  the  end,  the  people  always  acts  in  con 
formity  with  it. 

It  was  impossible,  at  the  foundation  of  the  states,  and  it 
would  still  be  difficult,  to  establish  a  central  administration  in 
America.  The  inhabitants  are  dispersed  over  too  great  a 
space,  and  separated  by  too  many  natural  obstacles,  for  one 
man  to  undertake  to  direct  the  details  of  their  existence. 
America  is  therefore  pre-eminently  the  country  of  provincial 
and  municipal  government./  To  this  cause,  which  was  plainly 


424  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN   UNION, 

felt  by  all  the  Europeans  of  the  New  World,  the  Anglo- 
Americans  added  several  others  peculiar  to  themselves. 

At  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  the  North  American  colo 
nies,  municipal  liberty  had  already  penetrated  into  the  laws 
as  well  as  the  manners  of  the  English,  and  the  emigrants 
adopted  it,  not  only  as  a  necessary  thing,  but  as  a  benefit 
which  they  knew  how  to  appreciate.  We  have  already 
seen  the  manner  in  which  the  colonies  were  founded  :  every 
province,  and  almost  every  district,  was  peopled  separately 
by  men  who  were  strangers  to  each  other,  or  who  associated 
with  very  different  purposes.  The  English  settlers  in  the 
United  States,  therefore,  early  perceived  that  they  were  di 
vided  into  a  great  number  of  small  and  distinct  communities 
which  belonged  to  no  common  centre  ;  and  that  it  was  need 
ful  for  each  of  these  little  communities  to  take  care  of  its  own 
affairs,  since  there  did  not  appear  to  be  any  central  authority 
which  was  naturally  bound  and  easily  enabled  to  provide  for 
them.  Thus,  the  nature  of  the  country,  the  manner  in  which 
the  British  colonies  were  founded,  the  habits  of  the  first  emi 
grants,  in  short  everything,  united  to  promote,  in  an  extra 
ordinary  degree,  municipal  and  provincial  liberties. 

In  the  United  States,  therefore,  the  mass  of  the  institutions 
of  the  country  is  essentially  republican ;  and  in  order  per 
manently  to  destroy  the  laws  which  form  the  basis  of  the  re 
public,  it  would  be  necessary  to  abolish  all  the  laws  at  once^, 
At  the  present  day,  it  would  be  even  more  difficult  for  a  party 
to  succeed  in  founding  a  monarchy  in  the  United  States,  than 
for  a  set  of  men  to  proclaim  that  France  should  hencefor 
ward  be  a  republic.  Royalty  would  not  find  a  system  of 
legislation  prepared  for  it  beforehand  ;  and  a  monarchy  would 
then  exist,  really  surrounded  by  republican  institutions.  The 
monarchical  principle  would  likewise  have  great  difficulty  in 
penetrating  into  the  manners  of  the  Americans. 

In  the  United  States,  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  is  not 
an  isolated  doctrine  bearing  no  relation  to  the  prevailing  man 
ners  and  ideas  of  the  people  :  it  may,  on  the  contrary,  be 
regarded  as  the  last  link  of  a  chain  of  opinions  which  binds 
the  whole  Anglo-American  world/-  That  Providence  has 
given  to  every  human  being  the  degree  of  reason  necessary 
to  direct  himself  in  the  affairs  which  interest  him  exclusive 
ly  ;  such  is  the  grand  maxirn  upon  which  civil  and  political 
society  rests  in  the  United  States.  The  father  of  a  family 
applies  it  to  his  children ;  the  master  to  his  servants  ;  the 
township  to  its  officers  ;  the  province  to  its  townships ;  the 
state  to  the  provinces ;  the  Union  to  the  states ;  and  when 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.          425 

extended  to  the  nation,  it  becomes  the  doctrine  of  the  sove 
reignty  of  the  people. 

Thus,  in  the  United  States,  the  fundamental  principle  of 
the  republic  is  the  same  which  governs  the  greater  part  of 
human  actions  ;  republican  notions  insinuate  themselves  into 
all  the  ideas,  opinions,  and  habits  of  the  Americans,  while 
they  are  formally  recognized  by  the  legislation  :  and  before 
this  legislation  can  be  altered,  the  whole  community  must 
undergo  very  serious  changes.  In  the  United  States,  even 
the  religion  of  most  of  the  citizens  v  is  republican,  since  it 
submits  the  truths  of  the  other  world  to  private  judgment : 
as  in  politics  the  care  of  its  temporal  interests  is  abandoned 
to  the  good  sense  of  the  people.  Thus  every  man  is  allowed 
freely  to  take  that  road  which  he  thinks  will  lead  him  to  hea 
ven  ;  just  as  the  law  permits  every  citizen  to  have  the  right 
of  choosing  his  government. 

It  is  evident  that  nothing  but  a  long  series  of  events,  all 
having  the  same  tendency,  can  substitute  for  this  combination 
of  laws,  opinions,  and  manners,  a  mass  of  opposite  opinions, 
manners  and  laws. 

If  republican  principles  are  to  perish  in  America,  they 
can  only  yield  after  a  laborious  social  process,  often  inter 
rupted,  and  as  often  resumed  ;  they  will  have  many  apparent 
revivals,  and  will  not  become  totally  extinct  until  an  entirely 
new  people  shall  have  succeeded  to  that  which  now  exists. 
Now,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  no  symptom  or  pre 
sage  of  the  approach  of  such  a  revolution.  There  is  nothing 
more  striking  to  a  person  newly  arrived  in  the  United  States, 
than  the  kind  of  tumultuous  agitation  in  which  he  finds  po 
litical  society.  The  laws  are  incessantly  changing,  and  at 
first  sight  it  seems  impossible  that  a  people  so  variable  in  its 
desires  should  avoid  adopting,  within  a  short  space  of  time, 
a  completely  new  form  of  government.  Such  apprehensions 
are,  however,  premature  ;  the  instability  which  affects  politi 
cal  institutions  is  of  two  kinds,  which  ought  not  to  be  con 
founded  :  the  first,  which  modifies  secondary  laws,  is  not  in 
compatible  with  a  very  settled  state  of  society  ;  the  other 
shakes  the  very  foundations  of  the  constitution,  and  attacks 
the  fundamental  principles  of  legislation  ;  this  species  of 
instability  is  always  followed  by  troubles  and  revolutions,  and 
the  nation  which  suffers  under  it,  is  in  a  state  of  violent 
transition. 

Experience  shows  that  these  two  kinds  of  legislative  insta 
bility  have  no  necessary  connexion ;  for  they  have  been 
found  united  or  separate,  according  to  times  and  circum- 


426  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

stances.  The  first  is  common  in  the  United  States,  but  not 
the  second :  the  Americans  often  change  their  laws,  but  the 
foundation  of  the  constitution  is  respected. 

In  our  days  the  republican  principle  rules  in  America,  as 
the  monarchical  principle  did  in  France  under  Louis  XIV. 
The  French  of  that  period  were  not  only  friends  of  the  mon 
archy,  but  they  thought  it  impossible  to  put  anything  in  its 
place ;  they  received  it  as  we  receive  the  rays  of  the  sun 
and  the  return  of  the  seasons.  Among  them  the  royal  power 
had  neither  advocates  nor  opponents.  In  like  manner  does 
the  republican  government  exist  in  America,  without  conten 
tion  or  opposition  ;  without  proofs  and  arguments,  by  a  tacit 
agreement,  a  sort  of  consensus  universalis.  It  is,  however, 
my  opinion,  that,  by  changing  their  administrative  forms  as 
often  as  they  do,  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  compro 
mise  the  future  stability  of  their  government. 

It  may  be  apprehended  that  men,  perpetually  thwarted  in 
their  designs  by  the  mutability  of  legislation,  will  learn  to 
look  upon  republican  institutions  as  an  inconvenient  form  of 
society  ;  the  evil  resulting  from  the  instability  of  the  second 
ary  enactments,  might  then  raise  a  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  constitution,  and  indirectly 
bring  about  a  revolution  ;  but  this  epoch  is  still  very  remote. 

[It  has  been  objected  by  an  American  review,  that  our  author  is 
mistaken  in  charging  our  laws  with  instability,  and  in  answer  to  the 
charge,  the  permanence  of  our  fundamental  political  institutions  has 
been  contrasted  with  the  revolutions  in  France.  But  the  objection 
proceeds  upon  a  mistake  of  the  author's  meaning,  which  at  this  page 
is  very  clearly  expressed.  He  refers  to  the  instability  which  modifies 
secondary  laws,  and  not  to  that  which  shakes  the  foundations  of  the 
constitution.  The  distinction  is  equally  sound  and  philosophic,  and 
those  in  the  least  acquainted  with  the  history  of  our  legislation,  must 
bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  author's  remarks.  The  frequent  re 
visions  of  the  statutes  of  the  states  rendered  necessary  by  the  multi 
tude,  variety,  and  often  the  contradiction  of  the  enactments,  furnish 
abundant  evidence  of  this  instability. — American  Editor.] 

^  It  may,  however,  be  foreseen,  even  now,  that  when  the 
Americans  lose  their  republican  institutions,  they  will  speed 
ily  arrive  at  a  despotic  government,  without  a  long  interval  of 
limited  monarchy.  Montesquieu  remarked,  that  nothing  is 
more  absolute  than  the  authority  of  a  prince  who  immediately 
succeeds  a  republic,  since  -the  powers  which  had  fearlessly 
been  intrusted  to  an  elected  magistrate  are  then  transferred 
to  an  hereditary  sovereign.  This  is  true  in  general,  but  it  is 
more  peculiarly  applicable  to  a  democratic  republic.  In  the 
United  States,  the  magistrates  are  not  elected  by  a  particular 


AND   WHAT   DANGERS    THREATEN    IT.  427 

class  of  citizens,  but  by  the  majority  of  the  nation  ;  they  are 
the  immediate  representatives  of  the  passions  of  the  multi 
tude  ;  and  as  they  are  wholly  dependent  upon  its  pleasure, 
they  excite  neither  hatred  nor  fear  :  hence,  as  I  have  already 
shown,  very  little  care  has  been  taken  to  limit  their  influence, 
and  they  are  left  in  possession  of  a  vast  deal  of  arbitrary 
power.  This  state  of  things  has  engendered  habits  which 
would  outlive  itself;  the  American  magistrate  would  retain 
his  power,  but  he  would  cease  to  be  responsible  for  the  exer- 
.  cise  of  it ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  say  what  bounds  could  then 
be  set  to  tyranny. 

Some  of  our  European  politicians  expect  to  see  an  aristo 
cracy  arise  in  America,  and  they  already  predict  the  exact 
period  at  which  it  will  be  able  to  assume  the  reins  of  govern 
ment.  I  have  previously  observed,  and  I  repeat  my  asser 
tion,  that  the  present  tendency  of  American  society  appears 
to  me  to  become  more  and  more  democratic.  Nevertheless, 
I  do  not  assert  that  the  Americans  will  not,  at  some  future 
time,  restrict  the  circle  of  political  rights  in  their  country,  or 
confiscate  those  rights  to  the  advantage  of  a  single  individual ; 
but  I  cannot  imagine  that  they  will  ever  bestow  the  exclusive 
exercise  of  them  upon  a  privileged  class  of  citizens,  or,  in 
other  words,  that  they  will  ever  found  an  aristocracy. 

An  aristocratic  body  is  composed  of  a  certain  number  of 
citizens,  who,  without  being  very  far  removed  from  the  mass 
of  the  people,  are,  nevertheless,  permanently  stationed  above 
it :  a  body  which  it  is  easy  to  touch,  and  difficult  to  strike  ; 
with  which  the  people  are  in  daily  contact,  but  with  which 
they  can  never  combine.  Nothing  can  be  imagined  more 
contrary  to  nature  and  to  the  secret  propensities  of  the  human 
heart,  than  a  subjection  of  this  kind  ;  and  men,  who  are  left 
to  follow  their  own  bent,  will  always  prefer  the  arbitrary 
power  of  a  king  to  the  regular  administration  of  an  aristo 
cracy.  Aristocratic  institutions  cannot  subsist  without  laying 
down  the  inequality  of  men  as  a  fundamental  principle,  as  a 
part  and  parcel  of  the  legislation,  affecting  the  condition  of 
the  human  family  as  much  as  it  affects  that  of  society ;  but 
these  things  are  so  repugnant  to  natural  equity  that  they  can 
only  be  extorted  from  men  by  constraint. 

I  do  not  think  a  single  people  can  be  quoted,  since  human 
society  began  to  exist,  which  has,  by  its  own  free  will  and  by 
its  own  exertions,  created  an  aristocracy  within  its  own  bo 
som.  All  the  aristocracies  of  the  middle  ages  were  founded 
by  military  conquest :  the  conqueror  was  the  noble,  the  van 
quished  became  the  serf.  Inequality  was  then  imposed  by 


428  '    DURATION    OF   THE   AMERICAN   UNION, 

force ;  and  after  it  had  been  introduced  into  the  manners  of 
the  country,  it  maintained  its  own  authority,  and  was  sanc 
tioned  by  the  legislation.  Communities  have  existed  which 
were  aristocratic  from  their  earliest  origin,  owing  to  circum 
stances  anterior  to  that  event,  and  which  became  more  demo 
cratic  in  each  succeeding  age.  Such  was  the  destiny  of  the 
Romans,  and  of  the  Barbarians  after  them.  But  a  people, 
having  taken  its  rise  in  civilisation  and  democracy,  which 
should  gradually  establish  an  inequality  of  conditions  until  it 
arrived  at  inviolable  privileges  and  exclusive  castes,  would- 
be  a  novelty  in  the  world  ;  and  nothing  intimates  that  Ame 
rica  is  likely  to  furnish  so  singular  an  example. 


REFLECTIONS     ON     THE     CAUSES    OF    THE    COMMERCIAL    PROSPE 
RITY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  Americans  destined  by  Nature  to  be  a  great  maritime  People.— 
Extent  of  their  Coasts.— Depth  of  their  Ports.— Size  of  their  Riv 
ers. — The  commercial  Superiority  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  less  attribu 
table,  however,  to  physical  Circumstances  than  to  moral  and  intellec 
tual  Causes. — Reason  of  this  Opinion.— Future  Destiny  of  the  Anglo- 
Americans  as  a  commercial  Nation. — The  Dissolution  of  the  Union 
would  not  check  the  maritime  Vigor  of  the  States. — Reason  of  this 
— Anglo-Americans  will  naturally  supply  the  Wants  of  the  inhabit 
ants  of  South  America. — They  will  become,  like  the  English,  the 
Factors  of  a  great  portion  of  the  World. 

THE  coast  of  the  United  States,  from  the  bay  of  Fundy  to  the 
Sabine  river  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,,  is  more  than  two  thou 
sand  miles  in  extent.  These  shores  form  an  unbroken  line, 
and  they  are  all  subject  to  the  same  government.  No  nation 
in  the  world  possesses  vaster,  deeper,  or  more  secure  ports 
for  shipping  than  the  Americans. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  constitute  a  great 
civilized  people,  which  fortune  has  placed  in  the  midst  of  an 
uncultivated  country,  at  a  distance  of  three  thousand  miles 
from  the  central  point  of  civilisation.  America  consequently 
stands  in  daily  need  of  European  trade.  The  Americans 
will,  no  doubt,  ultimately  succeed  in  producing  or  manufac 
turing  at  home  most  of  the  articles  which  they  require  ;  but 
the  two  continents  can  never  be  independent  of  each  other,  so 
numerous  are  the  natural  ties  which  exist  between  their 
wants,  their  ideas,  their  habits,  and  their  manners. 

The  Union  produces  peculiar  commodities  which  are  now 
become  necessary  to  us,  but  which  cannot  be  cultivated,  or 


A*ND   WHAT    DANGERS    THREATEN    IT.  429 

can  only  be  raised  at  an  enormous  expense,  upon  the  soil  of 
Europe.  The  Americans  only  consume  a  small  portion  of 
this  produce,  and  they  are  willing  to  sell  us  the  rest.  ^Europe 
is  therefore  the  market  of  America,  as  America  is  the  market 
of  Europe  ;  and  maritime  commerce  is  no  less  necessary  to 
enable  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  to  transport  their 
raw  materials  to  the  ports  of  Europe,  than  it  is  to  enable  us 
to  supply  them  with  our  manufactured  produce.  The  United 
States  were  therefore  necessarily  reduced  to  the  alternative 
of  increasing  the  business  of  other  maritime  nations  to  a 
great  extent,  if  they  had  themselves  declined  to  enter  into 
commerce,  as  the  Spaniards  of  Mexico  have  hitherto  done ; 
or,  in  the  second  place,  of  becoming  one  of  the  first  trading 
powers  of  the  globe. 

The  Anglo-Americans  have  always  displayed  a  very  de 
cided  taste  for  the  sea.  The  declaration  of  independence 
broke  the  commercial  restrictions  which  united  them  to  Eng 
land,  and  gave  a  fresh  and  powerful  stimulus  to  their  mari, 
time  genius.  Ever  since  that  time,  the  shipping  of  the  Union 
has  increased  in  almost  the  same  rapid  proportion  as  the  num 
ber  of  its  inhabitants.  The  Americans  themselves  now  trans 
port  to  their  own  shores  nine-tenths  of  the  European  produce 
which  they  consume.*  And  they  also  bring  three-quarters 
of  the  exports  of  the  New  World  to  the  European  consumer. f 
The  ships  of  the  United  States  fill  the  docks  of  Havre  and  of 
Liverpool ;  while  the  number  of  English  and  French  vessels 
which  are  to  be  seen  at  New  York  is  comparatively  small .J 

Thus,  not  only  does  the  American  merchant  face  competi- 

*  The  total  value  of  goods  imported  during  the  year  which  ended 
on  the  30th  September,  1332,  was  101,129,266  dollars.  The  value  of 
the  cargoes  of  foreign  vessels  did  not  amount  to  10,731,039  dollars, 
or  about  one-tenth  of  the  entire  sum. 

f  The  value  of  goods  exported  during  the  same  year  amounted  to 
87,176,943  dollars  ;  the  value  of  goods  exported  by  foreign  vessels 
amounted  to  21,036,183  dollars,  or  about  one  quarter  of  the  whole 
sum.  (Williams's  Register,  1833,  p.  398.) 

\.  The  tonnage  of  the  vessels  which  entered  all  the  ports  of  the 
Union  in  the  years  1829,  1830,  and  1831,  amounted  to  3,307,719  tons, 
of  which  544,571  tons  were  foreign  vessels ;  they  stood  therefore  to 
the  American  vessels  in  a  ratio  of  about  16  to  100.  (National  Calen 
dar,  1833,  p.  304.)  The  tonnage  of  the  English  vessels  which  en 
tered  the  ports  of  London,  Liverpool  and  Hull,  in  the  years  1820, 
1826,  and  1831,  amounted  to  443,800  tons.  The  foreign  vessels  which 
entered  the  same  ports  during  the  same  years,  amounted  to  159,431 
tons.  The  .ratio  between  them  was  therefore  about  36  to  100.  (Com 
panion  to  the  Almanac,  1834,  p.  169.)  In  the  year  1832  the  ratio  be 
tween  the  foreign  and  British  ships  which  entered  the  ports  of  Great 
Britain  was  29  to  100 


430  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

t.ion  in  his  own  country,  but  he  even  supports  that  of  foreign 
nations  in  their  own  ports  with  success.  This  is  readily  ex 
plained  by  the  fact  that  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  can 
cross  the  seas  at  a  cheaper  rate  than  any  other  vessels  in  the 
world.  As  long  as  the  mercantile  shipping  of  the  United 
States  preserves  this  superiority,  it  will  not  only  retain  what 
it  has  acquired,  but  it  will  constantly  increase  in  pros 
perity. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  for  what  reason  the  Americans  can 
trade  at  a  lower  rate  than  other  nations ;  and  one  is  at  first 
led  to  attribute  this  circumstance  to  the  physical  or  natural 
advantages  which  are  within*  their  reach  ;  but  this  supposition 
is  erroneous.     The  American  vessels  cost  almost  as  much  to 
build  as  our  own  ;*  they  are  not  better  built,  and  they  gene 
rally  last  for  a  shorter  time.     The  pay  of  the  American  sailor 
is  more  considerable  than  the  pay  on  board  European  ships ; 
which  is  proved  by  the  great  number  of  Europeans  who  are  . 
to  be  met  with  in  the  merchant- vessels  of  the  United  States. 
But  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  trup  cause  of  their  superiority 
must  not  be  sought  for  in  physical  advantages,  but  that  it  is 
wholly  attributable  to  'their  moral  and  intellectual  qualities. 
The   following   comparison  will    illustrate    my  meaning. 
During  the  campaigns  of  the  revolution  the   French  intro 
duced  a  new  system  of  tactics  into  the  art  of  war,  which  per 
plexed  the  oldest  generals,  und  very  nearly  destroyed  the 
most  ancient  monarchies  in  Europe.     They  undertook  (what 
had  never  been  before  attempted)  to  make  shift  without  a 
number  of  things  which -had  always  been  held  to  be  indispen 
sable  in  warfare ;  they  required  novel  exertions  on  the  part 
of  their  troops,  which  no  civilized  nations  had  ever  thought 
of;  they  achieved  great  actions  in  an  incredibly  short  space 
of  time :  and  they  risked  human  life  without  hesitation,  to 
obtain  the  object  in  view.     The  French  had  less  money  and 
fewer  men  than  their  enemies  ;  their  resources  were  infinitely 
inferior ;  nevertheless  they  were  constantly  victorious,  until 
their  adversaries  chose  to  imitate  their  example. 

The  Americans  have  introduced  a  similar  system  into  their 
commercial  speculations ;  and  they  do  for  cheapness  what 
the  French  did  for  conquest.  The  European  sailor  navigates 
with  prudence ;  he  only  sets  sail  when  the  weather  is  favor 
able  ;  if  an  unforeseen  accident  befalls  him,  he  puts  into 
port;  at  night  he  furls  a  portion  of  his  canvass;  and  when 
the  whitening  billows  intimate  the  vicinity  of  land,  he  checks 

*  Materials  are,  generally  speaking,  less  expensive  in  America  than 
in  Europe,  but  the  price  of  labor  is  much  higher. 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.         431 

his  way,  and  takes  an  observation  of  the  sun.  But  the 
American  neglects  these  precautions  and  braves  these  dan 
gers.  He  weighs  anchor  in  the  midst  of  tempestuous  gales ; 
by  night  and  by  day  he  spreads  his  sheets  to  the  wind  ;  he 
repairs  as  he  goes  along  such  damage  as  his  vessel  may  have 
sustained  from  the  storm  ;  and  when  he  at  last  approaches 
the  term  of  his  voyage,  he  darts  onward  to  the  shore  as  if  he 
already  descried  a  port.  The  Americans  are  often  ship 
wrecked,  but  no  trader  crosses  the  seas  so  rapidly.  And  as 
they  perform  the  same  distance  in  a  shorter  time,  they  can 
perform  it  at  a  cheaper  rate. 

The  European  touches  several  times  at  different  ports  in 
the  course  of  a  long  voyage  ;  he  loses  a  good  deal  of  precious 
time  in  making  the  harbor,  or  in  waiting  for  a  favorable  wind 
to  leave  it ;  and  he  pays  daily  dues  to  be  allowed  to  remain 
there.  The  American  starts  from  Boston  to  go  to  purchase 
tea  in  China  :  he  arrives  at  Canton,  stays  there  a  few  days 
and  then  returns.  In  less  than  two  years  he  has  sailed  as 
far  as  the  entire  circumference  of  the  globe,  and  he  has  seen 
land  but  once.  It  is  true  that  during  a  voyage  of  eight  or 
ten  months  he  has  drunk  brackish  water,  and  lived  upon  salt 
meat ;  that  he  has  been  in  a  continual  contest  with  the  sea, 
with  disease,  and  with  the  tedium  of  monotony  ;  but,  upon 
his  return,  he  can  sell  a  pound  of  his  tea  for  a  halfpenny  less 
than  the  English  merchant,  and  his  purpose  is  accomplished. 

I  cannot  better  explain  my  meaning  than  by  saying  that 
the  Americans  affect  a  sort  of  heroism  in  their  manner  of 
trading.  But  the  European  merchant  will  always  find  it 
very  difficult  to  imitate  his  American  competitor,  who,  in 
adopting  the  system  which  I  have  just  described,  follows  not 
only  a  calculation  of  his  gain,  but  an  impulse  of  his  nature. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  are  subject  to  all  the 
wants  and  all  the  desires  which  result  from  an  advanced 
stage  of  civilisation ;  but  as  they  are  not  surrounded  by  a 
community  admirably  adapted,  like  that  of  Europe,  to  satisfy 
their  wants,  they  are  often  obliged  to  procure  for  themselves 
the  various  articles  which  education  and  habit  have  rendered 
necessaries.  In  America  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  same 
individual  tills  his  field,  builds  his  dwelling,  contrives  his 
tools,  makes  his  shoes,  and  weaves  the  coarse  stuff  of  which 
his  dress  is  composed.  This  circumstance  is  prejudicial  to 
the  excellence  of  the  work :  but  it  powerfully  contributes  to 
awaken  the  intelligence  of  the  workman.  Nothing  tends  to 
materialise  man,  and  to  deprive  his  work  of  the  faintest  trace 
of  mind,  more  than  extreme  division  of  labor.  In  a  country 


432  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN    UNION, 

like  America,  where  men  devoted  to  special  occupations  are 
rare,  a  long  apprenticeship  cannot  be  required  from  any  one 
who  embraces  a  profession.  The  Americans  therefore 
change  their  means  of  gaining  a  livelihood  very  readily  ;  and 
they  suit  their  occupations  to  the  exigencies  of  the  moment, 
in  the  manner  most  profitable  to  themselves.  Men  are  to  be 
met  with  who  have  successively  been  barristers,  farmers, 
merchants,  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  physicians.  If  the 
American  be  less  perfect  in  each  craft  than  the  European,  at 
least  there  is  scarcely  any  trade  with  which  he  is  utterly  un 
acquainted.  His  capacity  is  more  general,  and  the  circle  of 
his  intelligence  is  enlarged.  , 

The  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  are  never  fettered  by 
the  axioms  of  their  profession ;  they  escape  from  all  the  pre 
judices  of  their  present  station ;  they  are  not  more  attached 
to  one  line  of  operation  than  to  another ;  they  are  not  more 
prone  to  employ  an  old  method  than  a  new  one ;  they  have 
no  rooted  habits,  and  they  easily  shake  off  the  influence  which 
the  habits  of  other  nations  might  exercise  upon  their 
minds,  from  a  conviction  that  their  country  is  unlike  any 
other,  and  that  its  situation  is  without  a  precedent  in  the 
world.  America  is  a  land  of  wonders,  in  which  every 
thing  is  in  constant  motion,  and  every  movement  seems  an 
improvement.  The  idea  of  novelty  is  there  indissolubly 
connected  with  the  idea  of  melioration.  No  natural  boundary 
seems  to  be  set  to  the  efforts  of  man ;  and  what  is  not  yet 
done  is  only  what  he  has  not  yet  attempted  to  do. 

This  perpetual  change  which  goes  on  in  the  United  States, 
these  frequent  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  accompanied  by  such 
unforeseen  fluctuations  in  private  and  in  public  wealth,  serve 
to  keep  the  minds  of  the  citizens  in  a  perpetual  state  of  fever 
ish  agitation,  which'  admirably  invigorates  their  exertions, 
and  keeps  them  in  a  state  of  excitement  above  the  ordinary 
level  of  mankind.  The  whole  life  of  an  American  is  passed 
like  a  game  of  chance,  a  revolutionary  crisis  or  a  battle. 
As  the  same  causes  are  continually  in  operation  throughout 
the  country,  they  ultimately  impart  an  irresistible  impulse  to 
the  national  character.  The  American,  taken  as  a  chance 
specimen  of  his  countrymen,  must  then  be  a  man  of  singular 
warmth  in  his  desires,  enterprising,  fond  of  adventure,  and 
above  all  of  innovation.  The  same  bent  is  manifest  in  all 
that  he  does ;  he  introduces  it  into  his  political  laws,  his  re 
ligious  doctrines,  his  theories  of  social  economy,  and  his  do 
mestic  occupations ;  he  bears  it  with  him  in  the  depth  of  the 
backwoods,  as  well  as  in  the  business  of  the  city.  It  is  the 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN  IT.         433 

same  passion,  applied  to  maritime  commerce,  which  makes 
him  the  cheapest  and  the  quickest  trader  in  the  world. 

As  long  as  the  sailors  of  the  United  States  retain  these  in 
spiriting  advantages,  and  the  practical  superiority  which  they 
derive  from  them,  they  will  not  only  continue  to  supply  the 
wants  of  the  producers  and  consumers  of  their  own  country, 
but  they  will  tend  more  and  more  to  become,  like  the  Eng 
lish,  the  factors  of  all  other  peoples.*  This  prediction  has 
already  begun  to  be  realized  ;  we  perceive  that  the  Ameri 
can  traders  are  introducing  themselves  as  intermediate  agents 
in  the  commerce  of  several  European  nations  ;f  and  America 
will  offer  a  still  wider  field  to  their  enterprise. 

The  great  colonies  which  were  founded  in  South  America 
by  the  Spaniards  and  the  Portuguese  have  since  become  em 
pires.  Civil  war  and  oppression  now  lay  waste  those  exten 
sive  regions.  Population  does  not  increase,  and  the  thinly- 
scattered  inhabitants  are  too  much  absorbed  in  the  cares  of 
self-defence  even  to  attempt  any  melioration  of  their  condi 
tion.  Such,  however,  will  not  always  be  the  case.  Europe 
has  succeeded  by  her  own  efforts  in  piercing  the  gloom  of 
the  middle  ages  ;  South  America  has  the  same  Christian 
laws  and  Christian  manners  as  we  have  ;  she  contains  all  the 
germs  of  civilisation  which  have  grown  amid  the  nations  of 
Europe  or  their  offsets,  added  to  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  our  example ;  why  then  should  she  always  remain  un 
civilized  ?  It  is  clear  that  the  question  is  simply  one  of  time  ; 
at  some  future  period,  which  may  be  more  or  less  remote, 
the  inhabitants  of  South  America  will  constitute  flourishing 
and  enlightened  nations. 

But  when  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  of  South  America 
begin  to  feel  the  wants  common  to  all  civilized  nations,  they 
will  still  be  unable  to  satisfy  those  wants  for  themselves ;  as 
the  youngest  children  of  civilisation,  they  must  perforce  ad 
mit  the  superiority  of  their  elder  brethren.  They  will  be 
agriculturists  long  before  they  succeed  in  manufactures  or 
commerce,  and  they  will  require  the  mediation  of  strangers 

*  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  English  vessels  are  exclusively  em 
ployed  in  transporting  foreign  produce  into  England,  or  British  pro 
duce  to  foreign  countries:  at  the  present  day  the  merchant  shipping 
of  England  may  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  vast  system  of  public  con 
veyances  ready  to  serve  all  the  producers  of  the  world,  and  to  open 
communications  between  all  peoples.  The  maritime  genius  of  the 
Americans  prompts  them  to  enter  into  competition  with  the  English. 

f  Part  of  the  commerce  of  the  Mediterranean  is  already  carried  on 
by  American  vessels. 

28 


434  DURATION    OF    THE    AMERICAN   UNION, 

to  exchange  their  produce  beyond  seas  for  those  articles  for 
which  a  demand  will  begin  to  be  felt. 

It  is  unquestionable  that  the  Americans  of  the  north  will^ 
one  day  supply  the  wants  of  the  Americans  of  the  south. 
Nature  has  placed  them  in  contiguity  ;  and  has  furnished  the 
former  with  every  means  of  knowing  and  appreciating  those 
demands,  of  establishing  a  permanent  connexion  with  those 
states,  and  of  gradually  filling  their  markets.  The  merchant 
of  the  United  States  could  only  forfeit  these  natural  advanta 
ges  if  he  were  very  inferior  to  the  merchant  of  Europe ;  to 
whom  he  is,  on  the  contrary,  superior  in  several  respects. 
The  Americans  of  the  United  States  already  exercise  a  very 
considerable  moral  influence  upon  all  the  people  of  the  New 
World.  They  are  the  source  of  intelligence,  and  all  the  na 
tions  which  inhabit  the  same  continent  are  already  accustom 
ed  to  consider  them  as  the  most  enlightened,  the  most  power 
ful,  and  the  most  wealthy  members  of  the  great  American 
family.  All  eyes  are  therefore  turned  toward  the  Union ; 
and  the  states  of  which  that  body  is  composed  are  the  models 
which  the  other  communities  try  to  imitate  to  the  best  of  their 
power  :  it  is  from  the  United  States  that  they  borrow  their 
political  principles  and  their  laws. 

The  Americans  of  the  United  States  stand  in  precisely  the 
same  position  with  regard  to  the  peoples  of  South  America  as 
their  fathers,  the  English,  occupy  with  regard  to  the  Italians, 
the  Spaniards,  the  Portuguese,  and  all  those  nations  of  Europe, 
which  receive  their  articles  of  daily  consumption  from  Eng 
land,  because  they  are  less  advanced  in  civilisation  and  trade. 
England  is  at  this  time  the  natural  emporium  of  almost  all 
the  nations  which  are  within  its  reach  ;  the  American  Union 
will  perform  the  same  part  in  the  other  hemisphere ;  and 
every  community  which  is  founded,  or  which  prospers  in  the 
New  World,  is  founded  and  prospers  to  the  advantage  of  the 
Anglo-Americans. 

If  the  Union  were  to  be  dissolved,  the  commerce  of  the 
states  which  now  compose  it,  would  undoubtedly  be  checked 
for  a  time ;  but  this  consequence  would  be  less  perceptible 
than  is  generally  supposed.  It  is  evident  that  whatever  may 
happen,  the  commercial  states  will  remain  united.  They  are 
all  contiguous  to  each  other  ;  they  have  identically  the  same 
opinions,  interests,  and  manners,  and  they  are  alone  compe 
tent  to  form  a  very  great  maritime  power.  Even  if  the  south  ' 
of  the  Union  were  to  become  independent  of  the  north,  it 
would  still  require  the  service  of  those  states.  I  have  alrea 
dy  observed  that  the  south  is  not  a  commercial  country,  and 


AND  WHAT  DANGERS  THREATEN.  IT.          435 

nothing  intimates  that  it  is  likely  to  become'  so.  T"hc  Ame 
ricans  of  the  south  of  the  United  States  will  therefore  be 
obliged,  for  a  long  time  to  come,  to  have  recourse  to  strangers 
to  export  their  produce,  and  to  supply  them  with  the  commo 
dities  which  are  requisite  to  satisfy  their  wants.  But  the 
northern  states  are  undoubtedly  able  to  act  as  their  interme 
diate  agents  cheaper  than  any  other  merchants.  They  will 
therefore  retain  that  employment,  for  cheapness  is  the  .sove 
reign  law  of  commerce.  National  claims  and  national  pre 
judices  cannot  resist  the  influence  of  cheapness.  Nothing 
can  be  more  virulent  than  the  hatred  which  exists  between  the 
Americans  of  the  United  States  and  the  English.  But,  not 
withstanding  these  inimical  feelings,  the  Americans  derive 
the  greater  part  of  their  manufactured  commodities  from  Eng 
land,  because  England  supplies  them  at  a  cheaper  rate  than 
any  other  nation.  Thus  the  increasing  prosperity  of  America 
turns,  notwithstanding  the  grudges  of  the  Americans,  to  the 
advantage  of  British  manufactures. 

Reason  shows  and  experience  proves  that  no  commercial 
prosperity  can  be  durable  if  it  cannot  be  united,  in  case  of 
need,  to  naval  force.  This  truth  is  as  well  understood  in  the 
United  States  as  it  can  be  anywhere  else  :  the  Americans  are 
already  able  to  make  their  flag  respected  :  in  a  few  years  they 
will  be  able  to  make  it  feared.  I  am  convinced  that  the  dis 
memberment  of  the  Union  would  not  have  the  effect  of  dimin 
ishing  the  naval  power  of  the  Americans,  but  that  it  would 
powerfully  contribute  to  increase  it.  At  the  present 
time  the  commercial  states  are  connected  with  others  which 
have  not  the  same  interests,  and  which  frequently  yield  an 
unwilling  consent  to  the  increase  of  a  maritime  power  by 
which  they  are  only  indirectly  benefited.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
the  commercial  states  of  the  Union  formed  one  independent 
nation,  commerce  would  become  the  foremost  of  their  na 
tional  interests ;  they  would  consequently  be  willing  to 
make  very  great  sacrifices  to  protect  their  shipping,  and 
nothing  would  prevent  them  from  pursuing  their  designs  upon 
this  point. 

Nations,  as  well  as  men,  almost  always  betray  the  most 
prominent  features  of  their  future  destiny  in  their  earliest 
years.  When  I  contemplate  the  ardor  with  which  the  Anglo- 
Americans  prosecute  commercial  enterprise,  the  advantages 
which  befriend  them,  and  the  success  of  their  undertakings, 
I  cannot  refrain  from  believing  that  they  will  one  day  become 
the  first  maritime  power  of  the  globe.  They  are  born  to  rule 
the  seas,  as  the  Romans  were  to  conquer  the  world. 


436  CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 

I  HAVE  now  nearly  reached  the  close  of  my  inquiry . 
hitherto,  in  speaking  of  the  future  destiny  of  the  United 
States,  I  have  endeavored  to  divide  my  subject  into  distinct 
portions,  in  order  to  study  each  of  them  with  more  attention. 
My  present  object  is  to  embrace  the  whole  from  one  single 
point ;  the  remarks  I  shall  make  will  be  less  detailed,  but 
they  will  be  more  sure.  I  shall  perceive  each  object  less  dis 
tinctly,  but  I  shall  descry  the  principal  facts  with  more  cer» 
tainty.  A  traveller,  who  has  just  left  the  walls  of  an  im 
mense  city,  climbs  the  neighboring  hill ;  as  he  goes  farther 
off,  he  loses  sight  of  the  men  whom  he  has  so  recently  quitted ; 
their  dwellings  are  confused  in  a  dense  mass ;  he  can  no 
longer  distinguish  the  public  squares,  and  he  can  scarcely 
trace  out  the  great  thoroughfares ;  but  his  eye  has  less  diffi 
culty  in  following  the  boundaries  of  the  city,  and  for  the  first 
time  he  sees  the  shape  of  the  vast  whole.  Such  is  the  future 
destiny  of  the  British  race  in  North  America  to  my  eye ;  the 
details  of  the  stupendous  picture  are  overhung  with  shade, 
but  I  conceive  a  clear  idea  of  the  entire  subject. 

The  territory  now  occupied  or  possessed  by  the  United 
States  of  America,  forms  about  one-twentieth  part  of  the  ha 
bitable  earth.  But  extensive  as  these  confines  are,  it  must 
not  be  supposed  that  the  Anglo-American  race  will  al 
ways  remain  within  them  ;  indeed,  it  has  already  far  over 
stepped  them. 

There  was  once  a  time  at  which  we  also  might  have  creat 
ed  a  great  French  nation  in  the  American  wilds,  to  counter 
balance  the  influence  of  the  English  upon  the  destinies  of  the 
New  World.  France  formerly  possessed  a  territory  in 
North  America,  scarcely  less  extensive  than  the  whole  of 
Europe.  The  three  greatest  rivers  of  that  continent- then 
flowed  within  her  dominions.  The  Indian  tribes  which  dwelt 
between  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  delta  of  the 
Mississippi  were  unaccustomed  to  any  tongue  but  ours  ;  and 
all  the  European  settlements  scattered  over  that  immense 
region  recalled  the  traditions  of  our  country.  Louisburg, 
Montmorency,  Duquesne,  Saint-Louis,  Vincennes,  New  Or 
leans  (for  such  were  the  names  they  bore),  are  words  dear 
to  France  and  familiar  to  our  ears. 

But  a  concourse  of  circumstances,  which  it  would  be  tedi- 


CONCLUSION. 


437 


ous  to  enumerate,*  have  deprived  us  of  this  magnificent  in 
heritance.  Wherever  the  French  settlers  were  numerically 
weak  and  partially  established,  they  have  disappeared ;  those 
who  remain  are  collected  on  a  small  extent  of  country,  and 
are  now  subject  to  other  laws.  The  400,000  French  inhabit 
ants  of  Lower  Canada  constitute,  at  the  present  time,  the 
remnant  of  an  old  nation  lost  in  the  midst  of  a  new  people. 
A  foreign  population  is  increasing  around  them  unceasingly, 
and  on  all  sides,  which  already  penetrates  among  the  ancient 
masters  of  the  country,  predominates  in  their  cities,  and  cor 
rupts  their  language.  This  population  is  identical  with  that 
of  the  United  States ;  it  is  therefore  with  truth  that  I  asserted 
that  the  British  race  is  not  confined  within  the  frontiers  of 
the  Union,  since  it  already  extends  to  the  northeast. 

To  the  northwest  nothing  is  to  be  met  with  but  a  few  in 
significant  Russian  settlements ;  but  to  the  southwest,  Mexico 
presents  a  barrier  to  the  Anglo-Americans.  Thus,  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Anglo-Americans  are,  properly  speaking, 
the  only  two  races  which  divide  the  possession  of  the  New 
World.  The  limits  of  separation  between  them  have  been 
settled  by  a  treaty ;  but  although  the  conditions  of  that  treaty 
are  exceedingly  favorable  to  the  Anglo-Americans,  I  do  not 
doubt  that  they  will  shortly  infringe  this  arrangement.  Vast 
provinces,  extending  beyond  the  frontiers  of  the  Union  toward 
Mexico,  are  still  destitute  of  inhabitants.  The  natives  of  the 
United  States  will  forestall  the  rightful  occupants  of  these  soli 
tary  regions.  They  will  take  possession  of  the  soil,  and  es 
tablish  social  institutions,  so  that  when  the  legal  owner  arrives 
at  length,  he  will  find  the  wilderness  under  cultivation,  and 
strangers  quietly  settled  in  the  midst  of  his  inheritance. 

The  lands  of  the  New  World  belong  to  the  first  occupant, 
and  they  are  the  natural  reward  of  the  swiftest  pioneer.  Even 
the  countries  which  are  already  peopled  will  have  some  diffi 
culty  in  securing  themselves  from  this  invasion,  I  have 
already  alluded  to  what  is  taking  place  in  the  province  of 
Texas.  The  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  are  perpetually 
migrating  to  Texas,  where  they  purchase  land ;  and  although 
they  conform  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  they  are  Gradually 
founding  the  empire  of  their  own  language  and  their  own 

*  The  foremost  of  these  circumstances  is,  that  nations  which  are 
accustomed  to  free  institutions  and  municipal  government  are  beci*r  able 
than  any  others  to  found  prosperous  colonies.  The  habit  of  thinking 
and  governing  for  oneself  is  indispensable  in  a  new  counUy,  where 
success  necessarily  depends,  in  a  great  measure,  upon  the  individual 
exertions  of  the  settlers. 


438  CONCLUSION. 

manners.  The  province  of  Texas  is  still  part  of  the  Mex  . 
can  dominions,  but  it  will  soon  contain  no  Mexicans :  th* 
same  thing  has  occurred  whenever  the  Anglo-American 
have  come  into  contact  with  populations  of  a  different  origi* 

[The  prophetic  accuracy  of  the  author,  in  relation  to  the  prese* 
actual  condition  of  Texas,  exhibits  the  sound  arid  clear  perception  wit* 
which  he  surveyed  our  institutions  and  character. — American  Editor. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  British  race  has  acquired  av 
amazing  preponderance  over  all  the  other  European  races  i* 
the  New  World ;  and  that  it  js  very  superior  to  them  in  civi 
lisation,  in  industry,  and  in  power.  As  long  as  it  is  only  sur 
rounded  by  desert  or  thinly-peopled  countries,  as  long  as  * 
encounters  no  dense  populations  upon  its  route,  through  whick 
it  cannot  work  its  way,  it  will  assuredly  continue  to  spread. 
The  lines  marked  out  by  treaties  will  not  stop  it ;  but  it  will 
everywhere  transgress  these  imaginary  barriers. 

The  geographical  position  of  the  British  race  in  the  New 
World  is  peculiarly  favorable  to  its  rapid  increase.  Above 
its  northern  frontiers  the  icy  regions  of  the  pole  extend ;  and 
a  few  degrees  below  its  southern  confines  lies  the  burning 
climate  of  the  equator.  The  Anglo-Americans  are  therefore 
placed  in  the  most  temperate  and  habitable  zone  of  the  con 
tinent. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  prodigious  increase  of 
population  in  the  United  States  is  posterior  to  their  declaration 
of  independence.  But  this  is  an  error :  the  population  in 
creased  as  rapidly  under  the  colonial  system  as  it  does  at  the 
present  day  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  doubled  in  about  twenty-two 
years.  But  this  proportion,  which  is  now  applied  to  millions, 
was  then  applied  to  thousands,  of  inhabitants  ;  and  the  same 
fact  which  was  scarcely  noticeable  a  century  ago,  is  now  evi 
dent  to  every  observer. 

The  British  subjects  in  Canada,  who  are  dependent  on  a 
king,  augment  and  spread  almost  as  rapidly  as  the  British 
settlers  of  the  United  States,  who  live  under  a  republican 
government.  During  the  war  of  independence,  which  lasted 
eight  years,  the  population  continued  to  increase  without  in 
termission  in  the  same  ratio.  Although  powerful  Indian  na 
tions  allied  with  the  English  existed,  at  that  time,  upon  the 
western  frontiers,  the  emigration  westward  was  never  check 
ed.  While  the  enemy  laid  waste  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic, 
Kentucky,  the  western  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  states 
of  Vermont  and  of  Maine  were  filling  with  inhabitants.  Nor 
did  the  unsettled  state  of  the  constitution,  which  succeeded 


CONCLUSION.  439 

the  war,  prevent  the  increase  of  the  population,  or  stop  its  pro 
gress  across  the  wilds.  Thus,  the  difference  of  laws,  the 
various  conditions  of  peace  and  war,  of  order  and  of  anarchy, 
have  exercised  no  perceptible  influence  upon  the  gradual  de 
velopment  of  the  Anglo-Americans.  This  may  be  readily 
understood  :  for  the  fact  is,  that  no  causes  are  sufficiently  ge 
neral  to  exercise  a  simultaneous  influence  over  the  whole  of 
so  extensive  a  territory.  One  portion  of  the  country  always 
offers  a  sure  retreat  from  the  calamities  which  afflict  another 
part ;  and  however  great  may  be  the  evil,  the  remedy  which 
is  at  hand  is  greater  still. 

It  must  not,  then,  be  imagined  that  the  impulse  of-'the  Bri 
tish  race  in  the  New  World  can  be  arrested.  The  dismem 
berment  of  the  Union,  and  the  hostilities  which  might  ensue, 
the  abolition  of  republican  institutions,  and  the  tyrannical 
government  which  might  succeed  it,  may  retard  this  impulse, 
but  they  cannot  prevent  it  from  ultimately  fulfilling  the  des 
tinies  to  which  that  race  is  reserved.  No  power  upon  earth 
can  close  upon  the  emigrants  that  fertile  wilderness  which 
offers  resources  to  all  industry  and  a  refuge  from  all  want. 
Future  events,  of  whatever  nature  they  may  be,  will  not  de 
prive  the  Americans  of  their  climate  or  of  their  inland  seas, 
of  their  great  rivers  or  of  their  exuberant  soil.  Nor  will  bad 
laws,  revolutions,  and  anarchy,  be  able  to  obliterate  that  love 
of  prosperity  and  that  spirit  of  enterprise  which  seem  to  be 
the  distinctive  characteristics  of  their  race,  or  to  extinguish 
that  knowledge  which  guides  them  on  their  way. 

Thus,  in  the  midst  of  the  uncertain  future,  one  event  at 
least  is  sure.  At  a  period  which  may  be  said  to  be  near  (for 
we  are  speaking  of  the  life  of  a  nation),  the  Anglo-Americans 
will  alone  cover  the  immense  space*  contained  between  the 
polar  regions  and  the  tropics,  extending  from  the  coasts  of  the 
Atlantic  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  ocean.  The  territory 
which  will  probably  be  occupied  by  the  Anglo-Americans  at 
some  future  time,  may  be  computed  to  equal  three-quarters 
of  Europe  in  extent.*  The  climate  of  the  Union  is  upon  the 
whole  preferable  to  that  of  Europe,  and  its  natural  advanta 
ges  are  not  less  great ;  it  is  therefore  evident  that  its  popula 
tion  will  at  some  future  time  be  proportionate  to  our  own. 
Europe,  divided  as  it  is  between  so  many  different  nations, 
and  torn  as  it  has  been  by  incessant  wars  and  the  barbarous 

*  The  United  States  already  extend  over  a  territory  equal  to  one 
half  of  Europe.  The  area  of  Europe  is  500,000  square  leagues,  and 
its  population  205,000,000  of  inhabitants.  (Maltebrun,  liv.  114,  vol., 
vi.,  p.  4.) 


440  CONCLUSION. 

manners  of  the  Middle  Ages,  has  notwithstanding  attained  a 
population  of  410  inhabitants  to  the  square  league.*  What 
cause  can  prevent  the  United  States  from  having  as  numerous 
a  population  in  time  ? 

Many  ages  must  elapse  before  the  divers  offsets  of  the 
British  race  in  America  cease  to  present  the  same  homoge 
neous  characteristics ;  and  the  time  cannot  be  foreseen  at 
which  a  permanent  inequality  of  conditions  will  be  establish 
ed  in  the  New  World.  Whatever  differences  may  arise, 
from  peace  or  from  war,  from  freedom  or  oppression,  from 
prosperity  or  want,  between  the  destinies  of  the  different  des 
cendants  of  the  great  Anglo-rAmerican  family,  they  will  at 
least  preserve  an  analogous  social  condition,  and  they  will 
hold  in  common  the  customs  and  the  opinions  to  which  that 
social  condition  has  given  birth. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  the  tie  of  religion  was  sufficiently  pow 
erful  to  imbue  all  the  different  populations  of  Europe  with  the 
same  civilisation.  The  British  of  the  New  World  have  a 
thousand  other  reciprocal  ties ;  and  they  live  at  a  time  when 
the  tendency  to  equality  is  general  among  mankind.  The 
Middle  Ages  were  a  period  when  everything  was  broken  up  ; 
when  each  people,  each  province,  each  city,  and  each  family, 
had  a  strong  tendency  to  maintain  its  distinct  individuality. 
At  the  present  time  an  opposite  tendency  seems  to  prevail, 
and  the  nations  seem  to  be  advancing  to  unity.  Our  means 
of  intellectual  intercourse  unite  the  most  remote  parts  of  the 
earth ;  and  it  is  impossible  for  men  to  remain  strangers  to 
each  other,  or  to  be  ignorant  of  the  events  which  are  taking 
place  in  any  corner  of  the  globe.  The  consequence  is,  that 
there  is  less  difference,  at  the  present  day,  between  the  Eu 
ropeans  and  their  descendants  in  the  New  World,  than  there 
was  between  certain  towns  in  the  thirteenth  century,  which 
were  only  separated  by  a  river.  If  this  tendency  to  assimi 
lation  brings  foreign  nations  closer  to  each  other,  it  must  a 
fortiori  prevent  the  descendants  of  the  same  people  from  be 
coming  aliens  to  each  other. 

The  time  will  therefore  come  when  one  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  men  will  be  living  in  North  America,f  equal  in 
condition,  the  progeny  of  one  race,  owing  their  origin  to  the 
same  cause,  and  preserving  the  same  civilisation,  the  same 
language,  the  same  religion,  the  same  habits,  the  same  man 
ners,  and  imbued  with  the  same  opinions,  propagated  under 

*  See  Maltebrun,  liv.  116,  vol.  vi.,  p.  92. 

t  This  would  be  a  population  proportionate  to  that  of  Europe,  taken 
at  a  mean  rate  of  410  inhabitants  to  the  square  league. 


CONCLUSION.  441 

the  same  forms.  The  rest  is  uncertain,  but  this  is  certain  ; 
and  it  is  a  fact  new  to  the  world — a  fact  fraught  with  such 
portentous  consequences  as  to  baffle  the  efforts  even  of  the 
imagination. 

There  are,  at  the  present  time,  two  great  nations  in  the 
world,  which  seem  to  tend  toward  the  same  end,  although  they 
started  from  different  points ;  I  allude  to  the  Russians  and 
the  Americans.  Both  of  them  have  grown  up  unnoticed  ; 
and  while  the  attention  of  mankind  was  directed  elsewhere, 
they  have  suddenly  assumed  a  most  prominent  place  among 
the  nations ;  and  the  world  learned  their  existence  and  their 
greatness  at  almost  the  same  time. 

All  other  nations  seem  to  have  nearly  reached  their  natural 
limits,  and  only  to  be  charged  with  the  maintenance  of  their 
power ;  but  these  are  still  in  the  act  of  growth  ;*  all  the 
others  are  stopped,  or  continue  to  advance  with  extreme  diffi 
culty  ;  these  are  proceeding  with  ease  and  with  celerity  along 
a  path  to  which  the  human  eye  can  assign  no  term.  The 
American  struggles  against  the  natural  obstacles  which  op 
pose  him ;  the  adversaries  of  the  Russian  are  men ;  the  for 
mer  combats  the  wilderness  and  savage  life ;  the  latter,  civi 
lisation  with  all  its  weapons  and  its  arts ;  the  conquests  of 
the  one  are  therefore  gained  \>y  the  ploughshare  ;  those  of  the 
other,  by  the  sword.  The  Anglo-American  relies  upon  per 
sonal  interest  to  accomplish  his  ends,  and  gives  free  scope  to 
the  unguided  exertions  and  common  sense  of  the  citizens  ; 
the  Russian  centres  all  the  authority  of  society  in  a  single 
arm :  the  principal  instrument  of  the  former  is  freedom  ;  of 
the  latter,  servitude.  Their  starting-point  is  different,  and 
their  courses  are  not  the  same  ;  yet  each  of  them  seems  to  be 
marked  out  by  the  will  of  Heaven  to  sway  the  destinies  of 
half  the  globe. 

*  Russia  is  the  country  in  the  Old  World  in  which  population  in 
creases  most  rapidly  in  proportion. 


APPE  NDII 


APPENDIX  A.— Page  17. 

FOR  information  concerning  all  the  countries  of  the  West  which  have 
not  been  visited  by  Europeans,  consult  the  account  of  two  expeditions 
undertaken  at  the  expense  of  congress  by  Major  Long.  This  traveller 
particularly  mentions,  on  the  subject  of  the  great  American  desert,  that 
a  line  may  be  drawn  nearly  parallel  to  the  20th  degree  of  longitude* 
(meridian  of  Washington),  beginning  from  the  Red  river  and  ending  at 
the  river  Platte.  From  this  imaginary  line  to  the  Rocky  mountains, 
which  bound  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  on  the  west,  lie  immense 
plains,  which  are  almost  entirely  covered  with  sand,  incapable  of  cul 
tivation,  or  scattered  over  with  masses  of  granite.  In  summer,  these 
plains  are  quite  destitute  of  water,  and  nothing  is  to  be  seen  on  them 
but  herds  of  buffaloes  and  wild  horses.  Some  hordes  of  Indians  are 
also  found  there,  but  in  no  great  number. 

Major  Long  was  told,  that  in  travelling  northward  from  the  river 
Platte,  you  find  the  same  desert  constantly  on  the  left ;  but  he  was  un 
able  to  ascertain  the  truth  of  this  report.  (Long's  Expedition,  vol.  ii., 
p.  361.) 

However  worthy  of  confidence  may  be  the  narrative  of  Major  Long, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  he  only  passed  through  the  country  of 
which  he  speaks,  without  deviating  widely  from  the  line  which  he  had 
traced  out  for  his  journey. 


APPENDIX  B.— Page  18. 

SOUTH  AMERICA,  in  the  regions  between  the  tropics,  produces  an  in 
credible  profusion  of  climbing-plants,  of  which  the  Flora  of  the  Antilles 
alone  presents  us  with  forty  different  species. 

Among  the  most  graceful  of  these  shrubs  is  the  passion-flower, 
which,  according  to  Descourtiz,  grows  with  such  luxuriance  in  the 
Antilles,  as  to  climb  trees  by  means  of  the  tendrils  with  which  it  is 
provided,  and  form  moving  bowers  of  rich  and  elegant  festoons,  deco 
rated  with  blue  and  purple  flowers,  and  fragrant  with  perfume.  (Vol. 
i.,  p.  265). 

The  mimosa  scandena  (acacia  a  grandes  gousses)  is  a  creej^r  of 
enormous  and  rapid  growth,  which  climbs  from  tree  to  tree,  ancflfome- 
times  covers  more  than  half  a  league.  (Vol.  iii.,  p.  227.) 

*  The  20th  degree  of  longitude  according  to  the  meridian  of  Washington,  agrees 
"ery  nearly  with  the  97th  degree  on  the  meridian  of  Greenwich. 


444  APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX  C.— Page  20 

THE  languages  which  are  spoken  by  the  Indians  of  America,  from  the 
Pole  to  Cape  Horn,  are  said  to  be  all  formed  upon  the  same  model,  and 
subject  to  the  same  grammatical  rules  ;  whence  it  may  fairly  be  con 
cluded  that  all  the  Indian  nations  sprang  from  the  same  stock. 

Each  tribe  of  the  American  continent  speaks  a  different  dialect ;  but 
the  number  of  languages,  properly  so  called,  is  very  small,  a  fact  which 
tends  to  prove  that  the  nations  of  the  New  World  had  not  a  very  re 
mote  origin. 

Moreover,  the  languages  of  America  have  a  great  degree  of  regu 
larity  ;  from  which  it  seems  probable  that  the  tribes  which  employ 
them  had  not  undergone  any  great  revolutions,  or  been  incorpo 
rated,  voluntarily,  or  by  constraint,  with  foreign  nations.  For  it  is 
generally  the  union  of  several  languages  into  one  which  produces 
grammatical  irregularities. 

It  is  not  long  since  the  American  languages,  especially  those  of  the 
north,  first  attracted  the  serious  attention  of  philologists,  when  the 
discovery  was  made  that  this  idiom  of  a  barbarous  people  was  the  pro 
duct  of  a  complicated  system  of  ideas  and  very  learned  combinations. 
These  languages  were  found  to  be  very  rich,  and  great  pains  had  been 
taken  at  their  formation  to  render  them  agreeable  to  the  ear. 

The  grammatical  system  of  the  Americans  differs  from  all  others  in 
several  points,  but  especially  in  the  following: — 

Some  nations  in  Europe,  among  others  the  Germans,  have  the  power 
of  combining  at  pleasure  different  expressions,  and  thus  giving  a  com 
plex  sense  to  certain  words.  The  Indians  have  given  a  most  surprising 
extension  to  this  power,  so  as  to  arrive  at  the  means  of  connecting  a 
great  number  of  ideas  with  a  single  term.  This  will  be  easily  under 
stood  with  the  help  of  an  example  quoted  by  Mr.  Duponceau,  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  America. 

"  A  Delaware  woman,  playing  with  a  cat  or  a  young  dog,"  says  this 
writer,  "  is  heard  to  pronounce  the  word  kuligatschis  ;  which  is  thus 
composed ;  k  is  the  sign  of  the  second  person,  and  signifies  '  thou '  or 
'  thy ;'  uli  is  a  part  of  the  word  wulit,  which  signifies  '  beautiful,' 
'  pretty  ;'  gat  is  another  fragment  of  the  word  wichgat,  which  means 
*  paw ;'  and  lastly,  schis  is  a  diminutive  giving  the  idea  of  small  ness. 
Thus  in  one  word  the  Indian  woman  has  expressed,  '  Thy  pretty 
little  paw.' '.' 

Take  another  example  of  the  felicity  with  which  the  savages  of  Ame 
rica  have  composed  their  words.  A  young  man  of  Delaware  is  called 
pilape.  This  word  is  formed  from  pilsit,  chaste,  innocent;  and 
lenape,  man  ;  viz.,  man  in  his  purity  and  innocence. 

This  facility  of  combining  words  is  most  remarkable  in  the  strange 
formation  of  their  verbs.  The  most  complex  action  is  often  expressed 
by  a  single  verb,  which  serves  to  convey  all  the  shades  of  an  idea  by 
the  modification  of  its  construction. 

Those  who  may  wish  to  examine  more  in  detail  this  subjecTTwhich 
I  have  only  glanced  at  superficially,  should  read  : — 

1.  The  correspondence  of  Mr.  Duponceau  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hec- 
weld^jfc-elative  to  the  Indian  languages  ;  which  is  to  be  found  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  America, 
published  at  Philadelphia,    1819,   by   Abraham   Small ,   vol  i.,  pp 
356-464. 

2.  The  grammar  of  the  Delaware  or  Lenape  language  by  Geiberger, 


APPENDIX.  445 

and  the  preface  of  Mr.  Duponceau.     All  these  are  in  the  same  collec 
tion,  vol.  iii. 

3.  An  excellent  account  o!  these  works,  which  is  at  the  end  of  the 
5th  volume  of  the  American  Encyclopaedia. 


APPENDIX  D.— Page  22. 

SEE  in  Charlevoix,  vol.  i.,  p.  235,  the  history  of  the  first  war  which  the 
French  inhabitants  of  Canada  carried  on,  in  1610,  against  the  Iroquois. 
The  latter,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  offered  a  desperate  resistance 
to  the  French  and  their  allies.  Charlevoix  is  not  a  great  painter,  yet 
he  exhibits  clearly  enough,  in  this  narrative,  the  contrast  between  the 
European  manners  and  those  of  savages,  as  well  as  the  different  way  in 
which  the  two  races  of  men  understood  the  sense  of  honor. 

When  the  French,  says  he,  seized  upon  the  beaver-skins  which 
covered  the  Indians  who  had  fallen,  the  Hurons,  their  allies,  were 
greatly  offended  at  this  proceeding  ;  but  without  hesitation  they  set  to 
work  in  their  usual  manner,  inflicting  horrid  cruelties  upon  the  pri 
soners,  and  devouring  one  of  those  who  had  been  killed,  which  made 
the  Frenchmen  shudder.  The  barbarians  prided  themselves  upon  a 
scrupulousness  which  they  were  surprised  at  not  finding  in  our  nation ; 
and  could  not  understand  that  there  was  less  to  reprehend  in  the  strip 
ping  of  dead  bodies,  than  in  the  devouring  of  their  flesh  like  wild 
beasts. 

Charlevoix,  in  another  place  (vol.  i.,  p.  230),  thus  describes  the  first, 
torture  of  which  Champlain  was  an  eyewitness,  and  the  return  of  the 
Hurons  into  their  own  village. 

"  Having  proceeded  about  eight  leagues,"  says  he,  "  our  allies  halt 
ed  :  and  having  singled  out  one  of  their  captives,  they  reproached  him 
with  all  the  cruelties  which  he  had  practised  upon  the  warriors  of 
their  nation  who  had  fallen  into  his  hands,  and  told  him  that  he  might 
expect  to  be  treated  in  like  manner;  adding,  that  if  he  had  any  spirit 
he  would  prove  it  by  singing,  He  immediately  chanted  forth  his 
death-song,  and  then  his  war-song,  and  all  the  songs  he  knew,  *  but  in 
a  very  mournful  strain,'  says  Champlain,  who  was  not  then  aware  that 
all  savage  music  has  a  melancholy  character.  The  tortures  which  suc 
ceeded,  accompanied  by  all  the  horrors  which  we  shall  mention  here 
after,  terrified  the  French,  who  made  every  effort  to  put  a  stop  to  them, 
but  in  vain.  The  following  night  one  of  the  Hurons  having  dreamed 
that  they  were  pursued,  the  retreat  was  changed  to  a  real  flight,  and 
the  savages  never  stopped  until  they  were  out  of  the  reach  of  danger. 

The  moment  they  perceived  the  cabins  of  their  own  village,  they  cut 
themselves  long  sticks,  to  which  they  fastened  the  scalps  which  had 
fallen  to  their  share,  and  carried  them  in  triumph.  At  this  sight,  the 
women  swam  to  the  canoes,  where  they  received  the  bloody  scalps 
from  the  hands  of  their  husbands,  and  tied  them  round  their  necks. 

The  warriors  offered  one  of  these  horrible  trophies  to  Champlain  ; 
they  also  presented  him  with  some  bows  and  arrows — the  only  spoils 
of  the  Iroquois  which  they  had  ventured  to  seize— entreating  him  to 
show  them  to  the  king  of  France. 

Champlain  lived  a  whole  winter  quite  alone  among  these  barbari 
ans,  without  being  under  any  alarm  for  his  person  or  property. 


446  APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX  E.— Page  36. 

ALTHOUGH  the  puritanical  strictness  which  presided  over  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  English  colonies  in  America  is  now  much  relaxed,  re 
markable  traces  of  it  are  still  found  in  their  habits  and  their  laws.  In 
1792,  at  the  very  time  when  the  anti-Christian  republic  of  France  be 
gan  its  ephemeral  existence,  the  legislative  body  of  Massachusetts  pro 
mulgated  the  following  law,  to  compel  the  citizens  to  observe  the 
sabbath.  We  give  tie  preamble,  and  the  principal  articles  of  this  law, 
which  is  worthy  of  the  reader's  attention. 

"  Whereas,"  says  the  legislator,  "  the  observation  of  the  Sunday  is 
an  affair  of  public  interest ;  inasmuch  as  it  produces  a  necessary  sus 
pension  of  labor,  leads  men  to  reflect  upon  the  duties  of  life  and  the 
errors  to  which  human  nature  is  liable,  and  provides  for  the  public  and 
private  worship  of  God  the  creator  and  governor  of  the  universe,  and 
for  the  performance  of  such  acts  of  charity  as  are  the  ornament  and 
comfort  of  Christian  societies : — 

"  Whereas,  irreligious  or  light-minded  persons,  forgetting  the  du 
ties  which  the  sabbath  imposes,  and  the  benefits  which  these  duties 
confer  on  society,  are  known  to  profane  its  sanctity,  by  following  their 
pleasures  or  their  affairs  ;  this  way  of  acting  being  contrary  to  their 
own  interest  as  Christians,  and  calculated  to  annoy  those  who  do  not 
follow  their  example  ;  being  also  of  great  injury  to  society  at  large,  by 
spreading  a  taste  for  dissipation  and  dissolute  manners  ; — 

"  Be  it  enacted  and  ordained  by  the  governor,  council,  and  repre 
sentatives  convened  in  general  court  of  assembly,  that  all  and  every 
person  and  persons  shall,  on  that  day,  carefully  apply  themselves  to 
the  duties  of  religion  and  piety ;  that  no  tradesman  or  laborer  shall 
exercise  his  ordinary  calling,  and  that  no  game  or  recreation  shall  be 
used  on  the  Lord's  day,  upon  pain  of  forfeiting  ten  shillings  ; — 

"That  no  one  shall  travel  on  that  day,  or  any  part  thereof,  under 
pain  of  forfeiting  twenty  shillings ;  that  no  vessel  shall  leave  a  harbor 
of  the  colony ;  that  no  person  shall  keep  outside  the  meetinghouse 
during  the  time  of  public  worship,  or  profane  the  time  by  playing  or 
talking,  on  penalty  of  five  shillings. 

"  Public-houses  shall  not  entertain  any  other  than  strangers  or 
lodgers,  under  a  penalty  of  five  shillings  for  every  person  found  drink 
ing  or  abiding  therein. 

"  Any  person  in  health  who,  without  sufficient  reason,  shall  omit  to 
worship  God  in  public  during  three  months,  shall  be  condemned  to  a 
fine  of  ten  shillings. 

"  Any  person  guilty  of  misbehavior  in  a  place  of  public  worship 
shall  be  fined  from  five  to  forty  shillings. 

"  These  laws  are  to  be  enforced  by  the  tithing-men  of  each  town 
ship,  who  have  authority  to  visit  public-houses  on  the  Sunday.  The 
innkeeper  who  shall  refuse  them  admittance  shall  be  fined  forty  shil 
lings  for  such  offence. 

"  The  tithing-men  are  to  stop  travellers,  and  to  require  of  them  their 
reason  for  being  on  the  road  on  Sunday :  any  one  refusing  to  answer 
shall  be  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  pounds  sterling.  If 
the  reason  given  by  the  traveller  be  not  deemed  by  the  tithing-men 
sufficient,  he  may  bring  the  traveller  before  the  justice  of  the  peace 
of  the  district."  (Law  of  the. 8th  March,  1792  :  General  Laws  of 
Massachusetts,  vol.  i.,  p.  410.) 

On  the  llth  March,  1797,  a  new  law  increased  the  amount  of  fines, 


APPENDIX.  447 

half  of  which  was  to  be  given  to  the  informer.     (Same  collection, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  525.) 

On  the  16th  February,  1816,  a  new  law  confirmed  these  measures 
(Same  collection,  vol.  ii.,  p.  405.) 

Similar  enactments  exist  in  the  laws  of  the  state  of  New  York,  re 
vised  in  1827  and  1828.  (See  Revised  Statutes,  part  i.,  chapter  20, 
p.  675.)  In  these  it  is  declared  that  no  one  is  allowed  on  the  sabbath 
to  sport,  to  fish,  play  at  games,  or  to  frequent  houses  where  liquor  is 
sold.  No  one  can  travel  except  in  case  of  necessity. 

And  this  is  not  the  only  trace  which  the  religious  strictness  and 
austere  manners  of  the  first  emigrants  have  left  behind  them  in  the 
American  laws. 

In  the  revised  statutes  of  the  state  of  New  York,  vol.  i.,  p.  662,  is 
the  following  clause  : — 

"  Whoever  shall  win  or  lose  in  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours,  by 
gaming  or  betting,  the  sum  of  twenty-five  dollars,  shall  be  found  guilty 
of  a  misdemeanor,  and,  upon  conviction,  shall  be  condemned  to  pay  a 
fine  equal  to  at  least  five  times  the  value  of  the  sum  lost  or  won  ;  which 
will  be  paid  to  the  inspector  of  the  poor  of  the  township.  He  that 
loses  twenty-five  dollars  or  more,  may  bring  an  action  to  recover  them  ; 
and  if  he  neglects  to  do  so,  the  inspector  of  the  poor  may  prosecute 
the  winner,  and  oblige  him  to  pay  into  the  poor  box  both  the  sum  he 
has  gained  and  three  times  as  much  beside." 

The  laws  we  quote  from  are  of  recent  date  ;  but  they  are  unintelli 
gible  without  going  back  to  the  very  origin  of  the  colonies.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  in  our  days  the  penal  part  of  these  laws  is  very  rarely  ap 
plied.  Laws  preserve  their  inflexibility  long  after  the  manners  of  a 
nation  have  yielded  to  the  influence  of  time.  It  is  still  true,  however, 
that  nothing  strikes  a  foreigner  on  his  arrival  in  America  more  forci 
bly  than  the  regard  to  the  sabbath. 

There  is  one,  in  particular,  of  the  large  American  cities,  in  which 
all  social  movements  be^in  to  be  suspended  even  on  Saturday  evening. 
You  traverse  its  streets  at  the  hour  at  which  you  expect  men  in  the 
middle  of  life  to  be  engaged  in  business,  and  young  people  in  plea 
sure;  and  you  meet  with  solitude  and  silence.  Not  only  have  all 
ceased  to  work,  but  they  appear  to  have  ceased  to  exist.  Neither  the 
movements  of  industry  are  heard,  nor  the  accents  of  joy,  nor  even  the 
confused  murmur  which  arises  from  the  midst  of  a  great  city.  Chains 
are  hung  across  the  streets  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  churches ;  the 
half  closed  shutters  of  the  houses  scarcely  admit  a  ray  of  sun  into  the 
dwellings  of  the  citizens.  Now  and  then  you  perceive  a  solitary  in 
dividual,  who  glides  silently  along  the  deserted  streets  and  lanes. 

Next  day,  at  early  dawn,  the  rolling  of  carriages,  the  noise  of  ham 
mers,  the  cries  of  the  population,  begin  to  make  themselves  heard 
again.  The  city  is  awake.  An  eager  crowd  hastens  toward  the  resort 
of  commerce  and  industry ;  everything  around  you  bespeaks  motion, 
bustle,  hurry.  A  feverish  activity  succeeds  to  the  lethargic  stupor  of 
yesterday :  you  might  almost  suppose  that  they  had  but  one  day  to  ac 
quire  wealth  and  to  enjoy  it. 


.  APPENDIX  F.— Page  41. 

IT  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say,  that  in  the  chapter  which  has  just 
been  read,  I  have  not  had  the  intention  of  giving  a  history  of  Ameri- 


448  APPENDIX. 

ca.  My  only  object  was  to  enable  the  reader  to  appreciate  the  influ 
ence  which  the  opinions  and  manners  of  the  first  emigrants  had  exer 
cised  upon  the  fate  of  the  different  colonies  and  of  the  Union  in  general. 
I  have  therefore  confined  myself  to  the  quotation  of  a  few  detached 
fragments. 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  am  deceived,  but  it  appears  to  me  that  by 
pursuing  the  path  which  I  have  merely  pointed  out,  it  would  be  easy 
to  present  such  pictures  of  the  American  republics  as  would  not  be  un 
worthy  the  attention  of  the  public,  and  could  not  fail  to  suggest  to  the 
statesman  matter  for  reflection. 

Not  being  able  to  devote  myself  to  this  labor,  I  am  anxious  to  render 
it  easy  to  others ;  and  for  this  purpose,  1  subjoin  a  short  catalogue 
and  analysis  of  the  works  which  seem  to  me  the  most  important  to 
consult. 

At  the  head  of  the  general  documents,  which  it  would  be  advan 
tageous  to  examine,  I  place  the  work  entitled  An  Historical  Collec 
tion  of  State  Papers,  and  other'  authentic  Documents,  intended  as 
Materials  for  a  History  of  the  United  States  of  America,  by  Ebenezer 
Hasard.  The  first  volume  of  this  compilation,  which  was  printed  at 
Philadelphia  in  1792,  contains  a  literal  copy  of  all  the  charters  granted 
by  the  crown  of  England  to  the  emigrants,  as  well  as  the  principal 
acts  of  the  colonial  governments,  during  the  commencement  of  their 
existence.  Among  other  authentic  documents,  we  here  find  a  great 
many  relating  to  the  affairs  of  New  England  and  Virginia  during  this 
period.  The  second  volume  is  almost  entirely  devoted  to  the  acts  of 
the  confederation  of  1643.  This  federal  compact,  which  was  entered 
into  by  the  colonies  of  New  England  with  the  view  of  resisting  the 
Indians,  was  the  first  instance  of  union  afforded  by  the  Anglo-Ameri 
cans.  There  were  besides  many  other  confederations  of  the  same  na 
ture,  before  the  famous  one  of  1776,  which  brought  about  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  colonies. 

Each  colony  has,  besides,  its  own  historic  monuments,  some  of 
which  are  extremely  curious ;  beginning  with  Virginia,  the  state  which 
was  first  peopled.  The  earliest  historian  of  Virginia  was  its  founder, 
Capt.  John  Smith.  Capt.  Smith  has  left  us  an  octavo  volume,  enti 
tled,  The  generall  Historie  of  Virginia  and  New  England,  by  Captain 
John  Smith,  sometymes  Governour  in  those  Countryes,  and  Admirall 
of  New  England ;  printed  at  London  in  1627.  The  work  is  adorned 
with  curious  maps  and  engravings  of  the  time  when  it  appeared ;  the 
narrative  extends  from  the  year  1 584  to  1626.  Smith's  work  is  highly 
and  deservedly  esteemed.  The  author  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
adventurers  of  a  period  of  remarkable  adventure ;  his  book  breathes 
that  ardor  for  discovery,  that  spirit  of  enterprise  which  characterized 
the  men  of  his  time,  when  the  manners  of  chivalry  were  united  to 
zeal  for  commerce,  and  made  subservient  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth. 

But  Capt.  Smith  is  remarkable  for  uniting,  to  the  virtues  which 
characterized  his  contemporaries,  several  qualities  to  which  they 
were  generally  strangers  :  his  style  is  simple  and  concise,  his  narra 
tives  bear  the  stamp  of  truth,  and  his  descriptions  are  free  from  false 
ornament. 

This  author  throws  most  valuable  light  upon  the  state  and  condition 
of  the  Indians  at  the  time  when  North  America  was  first  discovered. 

The  second  historian  to  consult  is  Beverley,  who  commences  his 
narrative  with  the 'year  1585,  and  ends  it  with  J700.  The  first  part 
of  his  book  contains  historical  documents,  properly  so  called,  relative 
to  the  infancy  of  the  colony.  The  second  affords  a  most  curious  pic- 


APPENDIX.  449 

ture  of  the  Indians  at  this  remote  period.  The  third  conveys  very 
clear  ideas  concerning  the  manners,  social  condition,  laws, -and  politi 
cal  customs  of  the  Virginians  in  the  author's  lifetime. 

Beverley  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  which  occasions  him  to  say  at  the 
beginning  of  his  book  that  he  entreats  his  readers  not  to  exercise  their 
critical  severity  upon  it,  since,  having  been  born  in  the  Indies,  he  does 
not  aspire  to  purity  of  language.  Notwithstanding  this  colonial  mo 
desty,  the  author  shows  throughout  his  book  the  impatience  with 
which  he  endures  the  supremacy  of  the  mother-country.  In  this 
work  of  Beverley  are  also  found  numerous  traces  of  that  spirit  of  civil 
liberty  which  animated  the  English  colonies  of  America  at  the  time 
when  he  wrote.  He  also  shows  the  dissensions  which  existed  among 
them  and  retarded  their  independence.  Beverley  detests  his  catholic 
neighbors  of  Maryland,  even  more  than  he  hates  the  English  govern 
ment:  his  style  is  simple,  his  narrative  interesting  and  apparently 
trustworthy. 

I  saw  in  America  another  work  which  ought  to  be  consulted,  enti 
tled,  The  History  of  Virginia,  by  William  Stith.  This  book  affords 
some  curious  details,  but  I  thought  it  long  and  diffuse. 

The  most  ancient  as  well  as  the  best  document  to  be  consulted  on 
the  history  of  Carolina  is  a  work  in  a  small  quarto,  entitled,  The  His 
tory  of  Carolina,  by  John  Lawson,  printed  at  London  in  1718.  This 
work  contains,  in  the  first  part,  a  journey  of  discovery  in  the  west  of 
Carolina;  the  account  of  which,  given  in  the  form  of  a  journal,  is  in 
general  confused  and  superficial ;  but  it  contains  a  very  striking  de 
scription  of  the  mortality  caused  among  the  savages  of  that  time,  both 
by  the  small-pox  and  the  immoderate  use  of  brandy ;  and  with  a  cu 
rious  picture  of  the  corruption  of  manners  prevalent  among  them, 
which  was  increased  by  the  presence  of  Europeans.  The  second  part 
of  Lawson's  book  is  taken  up  with  a  description  of  the  physical  con 
dition  of  Carolina,  and  its  productions.  In  the  third  part,  the  author 
gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  manners,  customs,  and  government 
of  the  Indians  at  that  period.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  talent  and 
originality  in  this  part  of  the  work. 

Lawson  concludes  his  history  with  a  copy  of  the  charter  granted  to 
the  Carolinas  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  The  general  tone  of  this 
work  is  light,  and  often  licentious,  forming  a  perfect  contrast  to  the 
solemn  style  of  the  works  published  at  the  same  period  in  New  Eng 
land.  Lawson's  history  is  extremely  scarce  in  America,  and  cannot 
be  procured  in  Europe.  There  is,  however,  a  copy  of  it  in  the  royal 
library  at  Paris. 

From  the  southern  extremity  of  the  United  States  I  pass  at  once  to 
the  northern  limit;  as  the  intermediate  space  was  not  peopled  till  a 
later  period. 

I  must  first  point  out  a  very  curious  compilation,  entitled,  Collection 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  printed  for  the  first  time  at 
Boston  in  1792,  and  reprinted  in  1806.  The  collection  of  which  I 
speak,  and  which  is  continued  to  the  present  day,  contains  a  great 
number  of  very  valuable  documents  relating  to  the  history  of  the  dif 
ferent  states  of  New  England.  Among  them  are  letters  which  have 
never  been  published,  and  authentic  pieces  which  have  been  buried  in 
provincial  archives.  The  whole  work  of  Gookin  concerning  the  In 
dians  is  inserted  there. 

I  have  mentioned  several  times,  in  the  chapter  to  which  this  note  re 
lates,  the  work  of  Nathaniel  Norton,  entitled  New  England's  Memo 
rial  ;  sufficiently  perhaps  to  prove  that  it  deserves  the  attention  of  those 
29 


450  APPENDIX. 

who  would  be  conversant  with  the  history  of  New  England.  This 
book  is  in  8vo.  and  was  reprinted  at  Boston  in  1826, 

The  most  valuable  and  important  authority  which  exists  upon  the 
history  of  New  England  is  the  work  of  the  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  en 
titled  Magnalia  Christi  Americana,  or  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
New  England.  1620—1698,  2  vols.  8vo,  reprinted  at  Hartford,  United 
States,  in  1820.*  The  author  divided  his  work  into  seven  books. 
The  first  presents  the  history  of  the  events  which  prepared  and  brought 
about  the  establishment  of  New  England.  The  second  contains  the 
lives  of  the  first  governors  and  chief  magistrates  who  presided  over 
the  country.  The  third  is  devoted  to  the  lives  and  labors  of  the  evan 
gelical  ministers  who  during  the  same  period  had  the  care  of  souls. 
In  the  fourth  the  author  relates  the  institution  and  progress  of  the  Uni 
versity  of  Cambridge  (Massachusetts).  In  the  fifth  he  describes  the 
principles  and  the  discipline  of  the  Church  of  New  England.  The 
sixth  is  taken  up  in  retracing  certain  facts,  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
Mather,  prove  the  merciful  interposition  of  Providence  in  behalf  of 
the  inhabitants  of  New  England.  Lastly,  in  the  seventh,  the  author 
gives  an  account  of  the  heresies  and  the  troubles  to  which  the  Church 
of  New  England  was  exposed.  Cotton  Mather  was  an  evangelical 
minister  whp  was  born  at  Boston,  and  passed  his  life  there.  His  nar 
ratives  are  distinguished  by  the  same  ardor  and  religious  zeal  which 
led  to  the  foundation  of  the  colonies  of  New  England.  Traces  of  bad 
taste  sometimes  occur  in  his  manner  of  writing ;  but  he  interests,  be 
cause  he  is  full  of  enthusiasm.  He  is  often  intolerant,  still  oftener 
credulous,  but  he  never  betrays  an  intention  to  deceive.  Sometimes 
his  book  contains  fine  passages,  and  true  and  profound  reflections, 
such  as  the  following : — 

"  Before  the  arrival  of  the  Puritans,"  says  he  (vol.  i.,  chap,  iv.), 
"  there  were  more  than  a  few  attempts  of  the  English  to  people  and 
improve  the  parts  of  New  England  which  were  to  the  northward  of 
New  Plymouth  ;  but  the  design  of  those  attempts  being  aimed  no 
higher  than  the  advancement  of  some  worldly  interests,  a  constant 
series  of  disasters  has  confounded  them,  until  there  was  a  plantation 
erected  upon  the  nobler  designs  of  Christianity :  and  that  plantation, 
though  it  has  had  more  adversaries  than  perhaps  any  one  upon  earth, 
yet,  having  obtained  help  from  God,  it  continues  to  this  day." 

Mather  occasionally  relieves  the  austerity  of  his  descriptions  with 
images  full  of  tender  feeling:  after  having  spoken  of  an  English  lady 
whose  religious  ardor  had  brought  her  to  America  with  her  husband, 
and  who  soon  after  sank  under  the  fatigues  and  privations  of  exile,  he 
adds,  "  As  for  her  virtuous  husband,  Isaac  Johnson, 

He  tried 
To  live  without  her,  liked  it  not,  and  died."— (VoL.  i.) 

Mather's  work  gives  an  admirable  picture  of  the  time  and  country 
which  he  describes.  In  his  account  of  the  motives  which  led  the 
puritans  to  seek  an  asylum  beyond  seas,  he  says  : — 

"  The  God  of  heaven  served,  as  it  were,  a  summons  upon  the  spirits 
of  his  people  in  the  English  nation,  stirring  up  the  spirits  of  thousands 
which  never  saw  the  faces  of  each  other,  with  a  most  unanimous  incli 
nation  to  leave  the  pleasant  accommodations  of  their  native  country, 
and  go  over  a  terrible  ocean,  into  a  more  terrible  desert,  for  the  pure 
enjoyment  of  all  his  ordinances.  It  is  now  reasonable  that,  before  we 

*  A  folio  edition  of  this  work  was  published  in  London  in  1708 


APPENDIX.  451 

pass  any  farther,  the  reasons  of  this  undertaking  should  be  more  exactly 
made  known  unto  posterity,  especially  unto  the  posterity  of  th<fte 
that  were  the  undertakers,  lest  they  come  at  length  to  forget  and  neglect 
the  true  interest  of  New  England.  Wherefore  I  shall  now  transcribe 
some  of  them  from  a  manuscript  wherein  they  were  then  tendered  unto 
consideration. 

"  General  Considerations  for  the  Plantation  of  JVew  England 

"  First,  it  will  be  a  service  unto  the  church  of  great  consequence,  to 
carry  the  gospel  unto  those  parts  of  the  world,  and  raise  a  bulwark 
against  the  kingdom  of  antichrist,  which  the  Jesuits  labor  to  rear  up  in 
all  parts  of  the  world. 

"  Secondly,  all  other  churches  of  Europe  have  been  brought  under 
desolations  ;  and  it  may  be  feared  that  the  like  judgments  are  coming 
upon  us  ;  and  who  knows  but  God  hath  provided  this  place  to  be  a 
refuge  for  many  whom  he  means  to  save  out  of  the  general  destruction  ! 

"  Thirdly,  the  land  grows  weary  of  her  inhabitants,  inasmuch  that 
man,  which  is  the  most  precious  of  all  creatures,  is  here  more  vile  and 
base  than  the  earth  he  treads  upon;  children,  neighbors,  and  friends, 
especially  the  poor,  are  counted  the  greatest  burdens,  which,  if  things 
were  right,  would  be  the  chiefest  of  earthly  blessings. 

"  Fourthly,  we  are  grown  to  that  intemperance  in  all  excess  of  riot, 
as  no  mean  estate  almost  will  suffice  a  man  to  keep  sail  with  his  equals, 
and  he  that  fails  in  it  must  live  in  scorn  and  contempt  ;  hence  it  comes 
to  pass,  that  all  arts  and  trades  are  carried  in  that  deceitful  manner 
and  unrighteous  course,  as  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  good  upright 
man  to  maintain  his  constant  charge  and  live  comfortably  in  them. 

*'  Fifthly,  the  schools  of  learning  and  religion  are  so  corrupted,  as 
(beside  the  unsupportable  charge  of  education)  most  children,  even  the 
best,  wittiest,  and  of  the  fairest  hopes,  are  prevented,  corrupted,  and 
utterly  overthrown  by  the  multitude  of  evil  examples  and  licentious 
behaviors  in  these  seminaries. 

"  Sixthly,  the  whole  earth  is  the  Lord's  garden,  and  he  hath  given 
it  to  the  sons  of  Adam,  to  be  tilled  and  improved  by  them  :  why  then 
should  we  stand  starving  here  for  places  of  habitation,  and  in  the 
mean  time  suffer  whole  countries,  as  profitable  for  the  use  of  man,  to 
lie  waste  without  any  improvement  ? 

"  Seventhly,  what  can  be  a  better  or  a  nobler  work,  and  more  worthy 
of  a  Christian,  than  to  erect  and  support  a  reformed  particular  church 
in  its  infancy,  and  unite  our  forces  with  such  a  company  of  faithful 
people,  as  by  timely  assistance  may  grow  stronger  and  prosper  ;  but  for 
want  of  it,  may  be  put  to  great  hazards,  if  not  be  wholly  ruined. 

"  Eighthly,  if  any  such  as  are  known  to  be  godly,  and  live  in  wealth 
and  prosperity  here,  shall  forsake  all  this  to  join  with  this  reformed 
church,  and  with  it  run  the  hazard  of  a  hard  and  mean  condition,  it 
will  be  an  example  of  great  use,  both  for  the  removing  of  scandal,  and 
to  give  more  life  unto  the  faith  of  God's  people  in  their  prayers  for  the 
plantation,  and  also  to  encourage  others  to  join  the  more  willingly  in 
it." 

Farther  on,  when  he  declares  the  principles  of  the  church  of  New 
England  with  respect  to  morals,  Mather  inveighs  with  violence  against 
the  custom  of  drinking  healths  at  table,  which  he  denounces  as  a  pagan 
and  abominable  practice.  He  proscribes  with  the  same  rigor  all  orna 
ments  for  the  hair  used  by  the  female  sex,  as  well  as  their  custom  of 
having  the  arms  and  neck  uncovered. 


452  APPENDIX. 

In  another  part  of  his  work  he  relates  several  instances  of  witchcraft 
\^iich  had  alarmed  New  England.  It  is  plain  that  the  visible  action 
of  the  devil  in  the  affairs  of  this  world  appeared  to  him  an  incontesti- 
ble  and  evident  fact. 

This  work  of  Cotton  Mather  displays  in  many  places,  the  spirit  of 
civil  liberty  and  political  independence  which  characterized  the  times 
in  which  he  lived.  Their  principles  respecting  government  are  dis 
coverable  at  every  page.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  inhabitants  of  Massa 
chusetts,  in  the  year  1630,  ten  years  after  the  foundation  of  Plymouth, 
are  found  to  have  devoted  400/.  sterling  to  the  establishment  of  the 
University  of  Cambridge.  In  passing  from  the  general  documents 
relative  to  the  history  of  New  England,  to  those  which  describe  the 
several  states  comprised  within  its  limits,  I  ought  first  to  notice  The 
History  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  by  Hutchinson,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  the  Massachusetts  Province,  2  vols.,  8vo. 

The  history  of  Hutchinson,  which  I  have  several  times  quoted  in 
the  chapter  to  which  this  note  relates,  commences  in  the  year  1628  and 
ends  in  1750.  Throughout  the  work  there  is  a  striking  air  of  truth 
and  the  greatest  simplicity  of  style  ;  it  is  full  of  minute  details. 

The  best  history  to  consult  concerning  Connecticut  is  that  of  Benja 
min  Trumbull,  entitled,  A  Complete  History  of  Connecticut,  Civil  and 
Ecclesiastical,  1630-1^64;  2  vols.,  8vo.,  printed  in  1818,  at  New 
Haven.  This  history  contains  a  clear  and  calm  account  of  all  the 
events  which  happened  in  Connecticut  during  the  period  given  in  the 
title.  The  author  drew  from  the  best  sources;  and  his  narrative 
bears  the  stamp  of  truth.  All  that  he  says  of  the  early  days  of  Con 
necticut  is  extremely  curious.  See  especially  the  constitution  of  1639, 
vol.  i.,  ch.  vi.,  p.  100  ;  and  also  the  penal  laws  of  Connecticut,  vol.  i., 
ch.  vii.,  p.  123. 

The  History  of  New  Hampshire,  by  Jeremy  Belknap,  is  a  work  held 
in  merited  estimation.  It  was  printed  at  Boston  in  1792,  in  2  vols., 
8vo.  The  third  chapter  of  the  first  volume  is  particularly  worthy  of 
attention  for  the  valuable  details  it  affords  on  the  political  and  religious 
principles  of  the  puritans,  on  the  causes  of  their  emigration,  and  on 
their  laws.  The  following  curious  quotation  is  given  from  a  sermon 
delivered  in  1663  :  "  It  concerneth  New  England  always  to  remember 
that  they  are  a  plantation  religious,  not  a  plantation  of  trade.  The 
profession  of  the  purity  of  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline,  is  written 
on  her  forehead.  Let  merchants,  and  such  as  are  increasing  cent, 
per  cent,  remember  this,  that  worldly  gain  was  not  the  end  and  design 
of  the  people  of  New  England,  but  religion.  And  if  any  man  among 
us  make  religion  as  twelve,  and  the  world  as  thirteen,  such  an  one  hath 
not  the  true  spirit  of  a  true  New  Englishman."  The  reader  of  Belknap 
will  find  in  his  work  more  general  ideas,  and  more  strength  of  thought, 
than  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  American  historians  even  to  the  present 

Among  the  central  states  which  deserve  our  attention  for  their 
remote  origin,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  are  the  foremost.  The 
best  history  we  have  of  the  former  is  entitled  A  History  of  New  York,  by 
William  Smith,  printed  in  London  in  1757.  Smith  gives  us  important 
details  of  the  wars  between  the  French  and  English  in  America.  His 
is  the  best  account  of  the  famous  confederation  of  the  Iroquois. 

With  respect  to  Pennsylvania,  I  cannot  do  better  than  point  out  the 
work  of  Proufl,  entitled  the  History  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  original 
Institution  and  Settlement  of  that  Province,  under  the  first  Proprietor 
and  Governor,  William  Penn,  in  1681,  till  after  the  year  1742 ;  by 


APPENDIX.  453 

Robert  Proud;  2  vols.,  8vo.,  printed  at  Philadelphia  in  1797.  This 
work  is  deserving  of  the  especial  attention  of  the  reader  ;  it  contains  a 
mass  of  curious  documents  concerning  Penn,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Quakers,  and  the  character,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  first  inhabit 
ants  of  Pennsylvania. 


APPENDIX  G.— Page  48 

WE  read  in  Jefferson's  Memoirs  as  follows  :— 

"  At  the  time  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  English  in  Virginia,  when 
land  was  had  for  little  or  nothing,  some  provident  persons  having 
obtained  large  grants  of  it,  and  being  desirous  of  maintaining  the 
splendor  of  their  families,  entailed  their  property  upon  their  descen 
dants.  The  transmission  of  these  estates  from  generation  to  generation, 
to  men  who  bore  the  same  name,  had  the  effect  of  raising  up  a  distinct 
class  of  families,  who,  possessing  by  law  the  privilege  of  perpetuating 
their  wealth,  formed  by  these  means  a  sort  of  patrician  order,  distin 
guished  by  the  grandeur  and  luxury  of  their  establishments.  From 
this  order  it  was  that  the  king  usually  chose  his  counsellor  of  state."* 

In  the  United  States,  the  principal  clauses  of  the  English  law  respect 
ing  descent  have  been  universally  rejected.  The  first  rule  that  we 
follow,  says  Mr.  Kent,  touching  inheritance,  is  the  following:  If  a  man 
dies  intestate,  his  property  goes  to  his  heirs  in  a  direct  line.  If  he  has 
but  one  heir  or  heiress,  he  or  she  succeeds  to  the  whole.  If  there  are 
several  heirs  of  the  same  degree,  they  divide  the  inheritance  equally 
among  them,  without  distinction  of  sex. 

This  rule  was  prescribed  for  the  first  time  in  the  state  of  New  York 
by  a  statute  of  the  23d  of  February,  17S6.  (See  Revised  Statutes,  vol.  iii., 
Appendix,  p.  48.)  It  has  since  then  been  adopted  in  the  revised 
statutes  of  the  same  state.  At  the  present  day  this  law  holds  good 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  United  States,  with  the  exception  of  the 
state  of  Vermont,  where  the  male  heir  inherits  a  double  portion : 
Kent's  Commentaries,  vol.  j^.,  p.  370.  Mr.  Kent,  in  the  same  work, 
vol.  iv.,  p.  1-22,  gives  an  historical  account  of  American  legislation  on 
the  subject  of  entail ;  by  this  we  learn  that  previous  to  the  revolution 
the  colonies  followed  the  English  law  of  entail.  Estates  tail  were 
abolished  in  Virginia  in  1776,  on  a  motion  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  They 
were  suppressed  in  New  York  in  1786 ;  and  have  since  been 
abolished  in  North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Georgia,  and 
Missouri.  In  Vermont,  Indiana,  Illinois,  South  Carolina,  and  Louisi 
ana,  entail  was  never  introduced.  Those  States  which  thought  proper 
to  preserve  the  English  law  of  entail,  modified  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
deprive  it  of  its  most  aristocratic  tendencies.  "  Our  general  principles 
on  the  subject  of  government,"  says  Mr.  Kent,  "  tend  to  favor  the  free 
circulation  of  property." 

It  cannot  fail  to  strike  the  French  reader  who  studies  the  law  of 
inheritance,  that  on  these  questions  the  French  legislation  is  infinitely 
more  democratic  even  than  the  American. 

The  American  law  makes  an  equal  division  of  the  father's  property, 
but  only  in  the  case  of  his  will  not  being  known  ;  "  for  every  man," 
says  the  law,  "  in  the  state  of  New  York  (Revised  Statutes,  vol.  iii., 

*  This  passage  is  extracted  and  translated  from  M.  Conseil's  work  upon  the  Life 
of  Jefferson,  entitled,  "  Melanges  Politiques  et  PMlosophiques  de  Jefferson." 


454  APPENDIX. 

Appendix,  p.  51),  has  entire  liberty,  power,  and  authority,  to  dispose 
of  his  property  by  will,  to  leave  it  entire,  or  divided  in  favor  of  any 
persons  he  chooses  as  his  heirs,  provided  he  do  not  leave  it  to  a  politi 
cal  body  or  any  corporation."  The  French  law  obliges  the  testator  to 
divide  his  property  equally,  or  nearly  so,  among  his  heirs. 

Most  of  the  American  republics  still  admit  of  entails,  under  cer 
tain  restrictions ;  but  the  French  law  prohibits  entail  in  all  cases. 

If  the  social  condition  of  the  Americans  is  more  democratic  than 
that  of  the  French,  the  laws  of  the  latter  are  the  most  democratic  of 
the  two.  This  may  be  explained  more  easily  than  at  first  appears  to 
be  the  case.  In  France,  democracy  is  still  occupied  in  the  "work 
of  destruction ;  in  America  it  reigns  quietly  over  the  ruins  it  has 
made. 


APPENDIX  H.— Page  55. 

BTTMMABY   OF   THE     QUALIFICATIONS     OF     VOTERS    IN    THE     UNITED 
STATES. 

ALL  the  states  agree  in  granting  the  right  of  voting  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one.  In  all  of  them  it  is  necessary  to  have  resided  for  a  cer 
tain  time  in  the  district  where  the  vote  is  given.  This  period  variew 
from  three  months  to  two  years. 

As  to  the  qualification ;  in  the  state   of  Massachusetts  it  is  neces 
sary  to  have  an  income  of  three  pounds  sterling  or  a  capital  of  sixty 
pounds. 

In  Rhode  Island  a  man  must  possess  landed  property  to  the  amount 
of  133  dollars. 

In  Connecticut  he  must  have  a  property  which  gives  an  income  of 
seventeen  dollars.  A  year  of  service  in  the  militia  also  gives  the  elec 
tive  privilege. 

In  New  Jersey,  an  elector  must  have  a  property  of  fifty  pounds  a 
year. 

In  South  Carolina  and  Maryland,  the  elector  must  possess  fifty  acres 
of  land. 

In  Tennessee,  he  must  possess  some  property. 

In  the  states  of  Mississippi,  Ohio,  Georgia,  Virginia,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  New  York,  the  only  necessary  qualification  for  voting  is  that 
of  paying  the  taxes ;  and  in  most  of  the  states,  to  serve  in  the  militia 
is  equivalent  to  the  payment  of  taxes. 

In  Maine  and  New  Hampshire  any  man  can  vote  who  is  not  on  the 
pauper  list. 

Lastly,  in  the  states  of  Missouri,  Alabama,  Illinois,  Louisiana,  Indi 
ana,  Kentucky,  and  Vermont,  the  conditions  of  voting  have  no  refer 
ence  to  the  property  of  the  elector. 

I  believe  there  is  no  other  state  beside  that  of  North  Carolina  in 
which  different  conditions  are  applied  to  the  voting  for  the  senate  and 
the  electing  the  house  of  representatives.  The  electors  of  the  former, 
in  this  case,  should  possess  in  property  fifty  acres  of  land ;  to  vote  for 
the  latter,  nothing  more  is  required  than  to  pay  taxes. 


APPENDIX.  455 


APPENDIX  I.— Page  92. 

THE  small  number  of  custom-house  officers  employed  in  the  United 
States  compared  with  the  extent  of  the  coast  renders  smuggling  very 
easy;  notwithstanding  which  it  is  less  practised  than  elsewhere,  be 
cause  everybody  endeavors  to  suppress  it.  In  America  there  is  no 
police  for  the  prevention  of  fires,  and  such  accidents  are  more  frequent 
than  in  Europe  :  but  in  general  they  are  more  speedily  extinguished, 
because  the  surrounding  population  is  prompt  in  lending  assistance. 


APPENDIX  K.— Page  94. 

IT  is  incorrect  to  assert  that  centralization  was  produced  by  the  French 
revolution  :  the  revolution  brought  it  to  perfection,  but  did  not  create 
it.  The  mania  for  centralization  and  government  regulations  dates 
from  the  time  when  jurists  began  to  take  a  share  in  the  government, 
in  the  time  of  Philippe-le-Bel ;  ever  since  which  period  they  have 
been  on  the  increase.  In  the  year  1775,  M.  de  Malesherbes,  speaking 
in  the  name  of  the  Cour  des  Aides,  said  to  Louis  XIV.* 

i<-*  *  *  *  Every  corporation  and  every  community  of  citizens 
retained  the  right  of  administering  its  own  affairs ;  a  right  which  not 
only  forms  part  of  the  primitive  constitution  of  the  kingdom,  but  has 
a  still  higher  origin  ;  for  it  is  the  right  of  nature  and  of  reason.  Nev 
ertheless,  your  subjects,  sire,  have  been  deprived  of  it ;  and  we  cannot 
refrain  from  saying  that  in  this  respect  your  government  has  fallen  into 
puerile  extremes.  From  the  time  when  powerful  ministers  made  it  a 
political  principle  to  prevent  the  convocation  of  a  national  assembly, 
one  consequence  has  succeeded  another,  until  the  deliberations  of  the 
inhabitants  of  a  village  are  declared  null  when  they  have  not  been  au 
thorized  by  the  intendant.  Of  course,  if  the  community  have  an  ex 
pensive  undertaking  to  carry  through,  it  must  remain  under  the  control 
of  the  sub-delegate  of  the  intendant,  and  consequently  follow  the  plan 
he  proposes,  employ  his  favorite  workmen,  pay  them  according  to  his 
pleasure  ;  and  if  an  action  at  law  is  deemed  necessary,  the  intendant's 
permission  must  be  obtained.  The  cause  must  be  pleaded  before  this 
first  tribunal,  previous  to  its  being  carried  into  a  public  court;  and  if 
the  opinion  of  the  intendant  is  opposed  to  that  of  the  inhabitants,  or  if 
their  adversary  enjoys  his  favor,  the  community  is  deprived  of  the 
power  of  defending  its  rights.  Such  are  the  means,  sire,  which  have 
been  exerted  to  extinguish  the  municipal  spirit  in  France  ;  and  to 
stifle,  if  possible,  the  opinions  of  the  citizens.  The  nation  may  be 
said  to  lie  under  an  interdict,  and  to  be  in  wardship  under  guardians." 

What  could  be  said  more  to  the  purpose  at  the  present  day,  when 
the  revolution  has  achieved  what  are  called  its  victories  in  centrali 
zation  ? 

In  1789,  Jefferson  wrote  from  Paris  to  one  of  his  friends  :  "  There 
is  no  country  where  the  mania  for  over-governing  has  taken  deeper  root 
than  in  France,  or  been  the  source  of  greater  mischief."  Letter  to 
Madison,  2Sth  August,  1789. 

The  fact  is  that  for  several  centuries  past  the  central  power  of  France 
has  done  everything  it  could  to  extend  central  administration  ;  it  has 

*  See  "  Memoires  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  du  Droit  Public  de  la  France  eu  niatier* 
d'lmpdu,"  p.  654,  printed  at  Brussels  in  1779. 


456  APPENDIX. 

acknowledged  no  other  limits  than  its  own  strength.  The  central 
power  to  which  the  revolution  gave  birth  made  more  rapid  advances 
than  any  of  its  predecessors,  because  it  was  stronger  and  wiser  than 
they  had  been ;  Louis  XIV.  committed  the  welfare  of  such  communi 
ties  to  the  caprice  of  an  intendant ;  Napoleon  left  them  to  that  of  the 
minister.  The  same  principle  governed  both,  though  its  consequences 
were  more  or  less  remote. 


APPENDIX  L.— Page  97. 

THIS  immutability  of  the  constitution  of  France  is  a  necessary  conse 
quence  of  the  laws  of  that  country. 

To  begin  with  the  most  important  of  all  the  laws,  that  which  de 
cides  the  order  of  succession  to  the  throne  j  what  can  be  more  immu 
table  in  its  principle  than  a  political  order  founded  upon  the  natural 
succession  of  father  to  son  ?  In  1814  Louis  XVIII.  had  established 
the  perpetual  law  of  hereditary  succession  in  favor  of  his  own  family. 
The  individuals  who  regulated  the  consequences  of  the  revolution  of 
1830  followed  his  example  ;  they  merely  established  the  perpetuity  of 
the  law  in  favor  of  another  family.  In  this  respect  they  imitated  the 
Chancellor  Maurepas,  who,  when  he  erected  the  new  parliament  upon 
the  ruins  of  the  old,  took  care  to  declare  in  the  same  ordinance  that  the 
rights  of  the  new  magistrates  should  be  as  inalienable  as  those  of  their 
predecessors  had  been. 

The  laws  of  1830,  like  those  of  1814,  point  out  no  way  of  changing 
the  constitution ;  and  it  is  evident  that  the  ordinary  means  of  legislation 
are  insufficient  for  this  purpose.  As  the  king,  peers,  and  deputies,  all 
derive  their  authority  from  the  constitution,  these  three  powers  united 
cannot  alter  a  law  by  virtue  of  which  alone  they  govern.  Out  of  the 
pale  of  the  constitution,  they  are  nothing ;  where,  then,  could  they 
take  their  stand  to  effect  a  change  in  its  provisions  ?  The  alternative 
is  clear  ;  either  their  effort*  are  powerless  against  the  charter,  which 
continues  to  exist  in  spite  of  them,  in  which  case  they  only  reign  in 
the  name  of  the  charter ;  or,  they  succeed  in  changing  the  charter,  and 
then  the  law  by  which  they  existed  being  annulled,  they  themselves 
cease  to  exist.  By  destroying  the  charter,  they  destroy  themselves. 

This  is  much  more  evident  in  the  laws  of  1830  than  in  those  of 
1814.  In  1814,  the  royal  prerogative  took  its  stand  above  and  beyond 
the  constitution ;  but  in  1830,  it  was  avowedly  created  by,  and  depend 
ant  on,  the  constitution. 

A  part  therefore  of  the  French  constitution  is  immutable,  because 
it  is  united  to  the  destiny  of  a  family;  and  the  body  of  the  constitution 
is  equally  immutable,  because  there  appear  to  be  no  legal  means  of 
changing  it. 

These  remarks  are  not  applicable  to  England.  That  country  hav 
ing  no  written  constitution,  who  can  assert  when  its  constitution  is 
changed  ? 


APPENDIX  M.— Page  97. 

THE  most  esteemed  authors  who  have  written  upon  the  English  con 
stitution  agree  with  each  other  in  establishing  the  omnipotence  of  the 
parliament  .>  • 


APPENDIX  457 

Delolme  says :  "  It  is  a  fundamental  principle  with  the  English 
lawyers,  that  parliament  can  do  everything  except  making  a  woman  a 
man,  or  a  man  a  woman." 

Blackstone  expresses  himself  more  in  detail  if  not  more  energeti 
cally  than  Delolme,  in  the  following  terms: — 

"  The  power  and  jurisdiction  of  parliament,"  says  Sir  Edward  Coke 
(4  Inst  36),  "  is  so  transcendant  and  absolute,  that  it  cannot  be  con 
fined,  either  for  causes  or  persons,  within  any  bounds.  And  of  this 
high  court,"  he  adds,  "  may  be  truly  said,  '  Si  antiquitatem  spectes, 
est  vetustissima ;  si  dignitatem,  est  honoratissima ;  si  jurisdictionern, 
est  capacissima.'  It  hath  sovereign  and  uncontrollable  authority  in 
making,  confirming,  enlarging,  restraining,  abrogating,  repealing,  re 
viving  and  expounding  of  laws,  concerning  matters  of  all  possible  de 
nominations  ;  ecclesiastical  or  temporal ;  civil,  military,  maritime,  or 
criminal;  this  being  the  place  where  that  absolute  despotic  power 
which  must,  in  all  governments,  reside  somewhere,  is  intrusted  by  the 
constitution  of  these  kingdoms.  All  mischiefs  and  grievances,  opera 
tions  and  remedies,  that  transcend  the  ordinary  course  of  the  laws,  are 
within  the  reach  of  this  extraordinary  tribunal.  It  can  regulate  or 
new-model  the  succession  to  the  crown;  as  was  done  in  the  reigns  of 
Henry  VIII.  and  William  III.  It  can  alter  the  established  religion  of 
the  land ;  as  was  done  in  a  variety  of  instances  in  the  reigns  of  King 
Henry  YIII.  and  his  three  children.  It  can  change  and  create  afresh 
even  the  constitution  of  the  kingdom,  and  of  the  parliaments  them 
selves  ;  as  was  done  by  the  act  of  union  and  the  several  statutes  for 
triennial  and  septennial  elections.  It  can,  in  short,  do  everything  that 
is  not  naturally  impossible  to  be  done  ;  and,  therefore,  some  have  not 
scrupled  to  call  its  power,  by  a  figure  rather  too  bold,  the  omnipo 
tence  of  parliament." 


APPENDIX  N.— Page  107. 

THERE  is  no  question  upon  which  the  American  constitutions  agree 
more  fully  than  upon  that  of  political  jurisdiction.  All  the  constitu 
tions  which  take  cognizance  of  this  matter,  give  to  the  house  of  dele 
gates  the  exclusive  right  of  impeachment ;  excepting  only  the  consti 
tution  of  North  Carolina  which  grants  the  same  privilege  to  grand- 
juries.  (Article  23.) 

Almost  all  the  constitutions  give  the  exclusive  right  of  pronouncing 
sentence  to  the  senate,  or  to  the  assembly  which  occupies  its  place. 

The  only  punishments  which  the  political  tribunals  can  inflict  are 
removal  and  interdiction  of  public  functions  for  the  future.  There  is 
no  other  constitution  but  that  of  Virginia  (152),  which  enables  them 
to  inflict  every  kind  of  punishment. 

The  crimes  which  are  subject  to  political  jurisdiction,  are,  in  the 
federal  constitution  (section  4,  art.  1) ;  in  that  of  Indiana  (art.  3,  para 
graphs  23  and  24) ;  of  New  York  (art.  5)  ;  of  Delaware  (art.  5) ;  high 
treason,  bribery,  and  other  high  crimes  or  offences. 

In  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts  (chap.  1,  section  2) ;  that  of 
North  Carolina  (art.  23) ;  of  Virginia  (p.  252),  misconduct  and  mal-ad- 
ministration. 

In  the  constitution  of  New  Hampshire  (p.  105)  corruption,  intrigue.,, 
and  mal-administration. 

In  Vermont  (chap,  ii.,  art.  24),  mal-administration. 


458  APPENDIX. 

In  South  Carolina  (art.  5)  ;  Kentucky  (art.  5) ;  Tennessee  (art.  4) ; 
Ohio  (art.  1,  §  23,  24) ;  Louisiana  (art.  5) ;  Mississippi  (art.  5) ;  Ala 
bama  (art.  6) ;  Pennsylvania  (art.  4) ;  crimes  committed  in  the  non- 
performance  of  official  duties. 

In  the  states  of  Illinois,  Georgia,  Maine,  and  Connecticut,  no  parti  • 
c.ular  offences  are  specified. 


APPENDIX  0.— Page  171. 

IT  is  true  that  the  powers  of  Europe  may  carry  on  maritime  wars  with 
the  Union ;  but  there  is  always  greater  facility  and  less  danger  in  sup 
porting  a  maritime  than  a  continental  war.  Maritime  warfare  only 
requires  one  species  of  effort.  A  commercial  people  which  consents 
to  furnish  its  government  with  the  necessary  funds,  is  sure  to  possess  a 
fleet.  And  it  is  far  easier  to  induce  a  nation  to  part  with  its  money, 
almost  unconsciously,  than  to  reconcile  it  to  sacrifices  of  men  and  personal 
efforts.  Moreover,  defeat  by  sea  rarely  compromises  the  existence  or 
independence  of  the  people  which  endures  it. 

As  for  continental  wars,  it  is  evident  that  the  nations  of  Europe 
cannot  be  formidable  in  this  way  to  the  American  Union.  It  would 
be  very  difficult  to  transport  and  maintain  in  America  more  than 
25,000  soldiers  ;  an  army  which  maybe  considered  to  represent  a  na 
tion  of  2,000,000  of  men.  The  most  populous  nation  of  Europe  con 
tending  in  this  way  against  the  Union,  is  in  the  position  of  a  nation  of 
2,000,000  of  inhabitants  at  war  with  one  of  12,000,000.  Add  to  this, 
that  America  has  all  its  resources  within  reach,  while  the  European 
is  at  4,000  miles  distance  from  his ;  and  that  the  immensity  of  the  Ame 
rican  continent  would  of  itself  present  an  insurmountable  obstacle  to 
its  conquest. 


APPENDIX  P.— Page  186. 

THE  first  American  journal  appeared  in  April,  1704,  and  was  publish 
ed  at  Boston.  See  collection  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Massachu 
setts,  vol.  vi.,  p.  66. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  periodical  press  has  always 
been  entirely  free  in  the  American  colonies :  an  attempt  was  made  to 
establish  something  analogous  to  a  censorship  and  preliminary  security. 
Consult  the  Legislative  Documents  of  Massachusetts  of  the  14th  of 
January,  1722. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  general  assembly  (the  legislative 
body  of  the  province),  for  the  purpose  of  examining  into  circumstances 
connected  with  a  paper  entitled  "  The  New  England  Courier,"  express 
es  its  opinion  that  "  the  tendency  of  the  said  journal  is  to  turn  reli 
gion  into  derision,  and  bring  it  into  contempt ;  that  it  mentions  the 
sacred  writings  in  a  profane  and  irreligious  manner ;  that  it  puts  mali 
cious  interpretations  upon  the  conduct  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel ; 
and  that  the  government  of  his  majesty  is  insulted,  and  the  peace 
and  tranquillity  of  the  province  disturbed  by  the  said  journal. 
The  committee  is  consequently  of  opinion  that  the  printer  and 
publisher,  James  Franklin,  should  be  forbidden  to  print  and  publish 
the  said  journal  or  any  other  work  in  future,  without  having  previous- 


1.PPENDIX.  459 

'*•!'*- 

ly  submitted  it  to  the  secretary  of  the  province ;  and  that  the  justices 
of  the  peace  for  the  county  of  Suffolk  should  be  commissioned  to  re 
quire  bail  of  the  said  James  Franklin  for  his  good  conduct  during  the 
ensuing  year." 

The  suggestion  of  the  committee  was  adopted  and  passed  into  a  law, 
but  the  effect  of  it  was  null,  for  the  journal  eluded  the  prohibition  by 
putting  the  name  of  BenjaminJ'ranklin  instead  of  James  Franklin  at 
the  bottom  of  its  columns,  andthis  manoeuvre  was  supported  by  public 
opinion. 


APPENDIX  Q.— Page  287. 

THE  federal  constitution  has  introduced  the  jury  into  the  tribunals  ot 
the  Union  in  the  same  way  as  the  states  had  introduced  it  into  thejr 
own  several  courts  :  but  as*it  has  not  established  any  fixed  rules  for  the 
choice  of  jurors,  the  federal  courts  select  them  from  the  ordinary  jury- 
list  which  each  state  makes  for  itself.  Th^  laws  of  the  states  must 
therefore  be  examined  for  the  theory  of  the  formation  of  juries.  See 
Story's  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,  B.  iii.,  chap.  38,  pp.  654-^ 
659 ;  Sergeant's  Constitutional  Law,  p.  165.  See  also  the  federal  laws, 
of  the  years  1789,  1800,  and  1802,  upon  the  subject 

For  the  purpose  of  thoroughly  understanding  the  American  princi 
ples  with  respect  to  the  formation  of  juries,  I  examined  the  laws  of 
states  at  a  distance  from  one  another,  and  the  following  observations 
were  the  result  of  my  inquiries. 

In  America  all  the  citizens  who  exercise  the  elective  franchise  have 
the  right  of  serving  upon  a  jury.  The  great  state  of  New  York,  how 
ever,  has  made  a  slight  difference  between  the  two  privileges,  but  in  a 
spirit  contrary  to  that  of  the  laws  of  France  ;  for  in  the  state  of  New 
York  there  are  fewer  persons  eligible  as  jurymen  than  there  are  elect 
ors.  It  may  be  said  in  general  that  the  right  of  forming  part  of  a  jury, 
like  that  of  electing  representatives,  is  open  to  all  the  citizens ;  the 
exercise  of  this  right,  however,  is  not  put  indiscriminately  into  any 
hands. 

Every  year  a  body  of  municipal  or  county  magistrates — called  select 
men  in  New  England,  supervisors  in  New  York,  trustees  in  Ohio,  and 
sheriffs  of  the  parish  in  Louisiana — choose  for  each  county  a  certain 
number  of  citizens  who  have  the  right  of  serving  as  jurymen,  and  who 
are  supposed  to  be  capable  of  exercising  their  functions.  These  ma 
gistrates,  being  themselves  elective,  excite  no  distrust :  their  powers, 
like  those  of  most  republican  magistrates,  are  very  extensive  and  very 
arbitrary,  and  they  frequently  make  use  of  them  to  remove  unworthy 
or  incompetent  jurymen. 

The  names  of  the  jurymen  thus  chosen  are  transmitted  to  the  coun 
ty  court ;  and  the  jury  who  have  to  decide  any  affair  are  drawn  by  lot 
from  the  whole  list  of  names. 

The  Americans  have  contrived  in  every  way  to  make  the  common 
people  eligible  to  the  jury,  and  to  render  the  service  as  little  onerous 
as  possible.  The  sessions  are  held  in  the  chief  town  of  every  county ; 
and  the  jury  are  indemnified  for  their  attendance  either  by  the  state  or 
the  parties  concerned.  They  receive  in  general  a  dollar  per  day,  be 
side  their  travelling  expenses.  In  America  the  being  placed  upon  the 
jury  is  looked  upon  as  a  burden,  but  it  is  a  burden  which  is  very  sup 
portable.  See  Brevard's  Digest  of  the  Public  Statute  Law  of  South 


460  APPENDIX!  .  , 

<*  . 

Carolina,  vol.  i.,  pp.  446  and  454,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  218  and  338 ;  The  Gene 
ral  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  revised  and  published  by  Authority  of  the 
Legislature,  v.  ii.,  pp.  187  and  331 ;  The  Revised  Statutes  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  411,  643,  717,  720;  The  Statute  Law  of  the 
State  of  Tennessee,  vol.  i.,  p%  209;  Acts  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  pp.  95 
and  210 ;  and  Digeste  General  des  Actes  de  la  Legislature  de  la 
Louisiane. 


APPENDIX  R.— Page  290. 

IF  we  attentively  examine  the  constitution  of  the  jury  as  introduced 
into  civil  proceedings  in  England,  we  shall  readily  perceive  that  the 
jurors  are  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  judge  It  is  true  that 
the  verdict  of  the  jury,  in  civil  as  well  as  in  criminal  cases,  comprises 
the  question  of  fact  and  the  question  of  right  in  the  same  reply ;  thus, 
a  house  is  claimed  by  Peter  as  having  been  purchased  by  him :  this  is 
the  fact  to  be  decided.  The  defendant  puts  in  a  plea  of  incompetency 
on  the  part  of  the  vendor :  this  is  the  legal  question  to  be  resolved. 
r  But  the  jury  do  not  enjoy  the  same  character  of  infallibility  in  civil 
cases,  according  to  the  practice  of  the  English  courts,  as  they  do  in 
criminal  cases.  The  judge  may  refuse  to  receive  the  verdict;  and 
even  after  the  first  trial  has  taken  place,  a  second  or  new  trial  may  be 
awarded  bv  the  court.  See  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  book  iii.,  ch.  24. 


'*•• 


22 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TO—  ^      202  Main  Library 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  date. 

Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling     642-3405. 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

DEC  0  1  W 

P.EC.CIR.  SE?2o'S3 

FEB081997 

AUTO  DIS 

r   Eb  04  1995 

•• 

NUV  1  0  V 

HOJHSCQBC   ^P  "5C 

>'q4 

CIRCULAR 

3N 

MAR  05  1993 

AUTO  DISC  CIRC   rB 

NOVl7lS95jflpn710oa 
03*93 

J&S21  2m 

MAY  2  3  1993 

i 

i  I       £-£•  C 

AUTO  DISC  CIRC   Ai 

Pf^pfic: 

OPT  1  3  2004 

crn  ft  11^93 

t  r,  >  »    ^  •  '  j 

VJt»  I    -1-  u 

i)Li    VI  * 
AUTO  DISC 

J/\N  OJ  1SS7 

HIM  1  0  1P< 

3 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
-  DD>3T!ON  BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


